“The Lord Surrounds His People”

BIBLE READING: Psalms 120-131

                Doubt can be a very scary word.  Even as it begins to roll off your tongue when you say it out loud, your stomach begins to knot up.  Yet at some point in time we have all doubted, whether it was something as simple as “Is God really listening to me?” or as dangerous as “Is God even real?”.  I have always taught teenagers that they must be very careful as they continue their education, because sometimes we can become too smart for our own britches.  Although that may sound strange, I believe it to be 100% true.  We can be so analytically driven to find answers to some of life’s most difficult questions, when in reality those answers just cannot be found.  It is like seeking to find an answer to an equation that simply has no answer.  Let me rephrase that statement, it is like seeking to find a concrete logical answer to an equation in which the answer is simply faith.  Faith is something that defies all reason, and at the same time is the only reasonable answer.  It is trusting in something so much, even when you have no physical evidence that it is there (Hebrews 11.1).  Therefore, when you doubt (and at some point, you will), remember that you are in good company.  In John 20, Thomas doubted that Jesus had been risen from the dead.  In Matthew 28.16-17 before Jesus ascended into heaven, even some of the eleven disciples doubted. Even as we have already read in the Psalms, at times David even reveals to us that he went through the valley of doubt “How long O LORD, will you forget me forever” (Psalm 13.1).  Ironically, it is David who provides us with some comforting words that can help us when we doubt.  In one of his “Psalms of Ascents” found in Psalm 125, David gives us a rather fitting analogy to help us know that God is there…and that He does care.  “As the mountains, surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people” (Psalms 125.2) Several times a year, Jewish pilgrims would make the same journey that would carry them into the holy city of Jerusalem.  Even though Jerusalem itself was located on a hill, it had many larger hills surrounding it on all sides for its protection.  As David makes that journey, he notices a very comforting thought concerning God.  Mountains don’t move!  Of all things in this earth are the most stable of all of God’s creation. Ironically, the only thing said to be able to move a mountain is faith.   Just as these mountains surround the city of Jerusalem, David recognizes that God surrounds His people.  These mountains offered the city the same sense of protection and comfort that a mother would wrap their arms around her child.  So, the next time you begin to doubt the presence of God in your life, imagine looking down from that mountain as you would enter the city of Jerusalem.  Then remember that even when we can’t feel Him, or even see Him, He is still the most stable of all forces in our lives.  May our prayer always be that of the father of boy with the unclean spirit in Mark 9, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9.24)                                                                                                                                                                                 -MH