Let’s Go Up To Worship God

Yesterday’s message taught the importance of body posture and that we have to hold our heads up high.

Today, we are going to delve into  Psalm 121. There are 150 psalms in the Bible and psalms are songs offered as worship to God. Psalms contain prophetic messages, divine interventions, experiences with God and so on.
 
Background of Psalm 121
Known as the song of ascents, we see the Israel crowd who has been redeemed from the Egyptians going up the mountain. The Israelites who were held in captivity were rescued in order to praise and worship God. It is through praise and worship that we find nourishment, joy, and release from the things of the world.

If we do not worship, we do not have a spiritual life!
 
Worship brings down the ambience of heaven. Since the Israelites did not have the freedom to worship, this was the purpose of being set free to their own land where they can freely worship God. While reading more on the story of the Israelites being set free, we see their journey to the desert, the receiving of the tabernacle and journey to Canaan where they were able to finally establish themselves. It was here that they wanted to set up a more permanent temple to worship God. King David was the one who  helped prepare all the things required for this and King Solomon was the one who built it. Their place of worship was located on Mount Sinai, the same place where Abraham had gone up to sacrifice Isaac.

To reach their place of worship, the crowds would have to go up the mountain. The Hebrew word ‘Aliyah’ means ascent or go up signifying going up the mountain to the place of worship. The group went up as pilgrims and the song that was sung was Psalm 121.
 
We are asked not to look down rather we ought to look up for our help comes from God up above. We need to understand when our minds are downcast, gloomy and heavy and there is a chance that our minds will fall down due to the heavy weight of the burdens in life. It is at this moment we must ‘aliyah’ - go up worship and meet with the maker of the heavens and the earth.

Back in those days, every region had their own god. Even the smallest of regions had their national god. There was no common or universal God at that time! None of the other regions had faith in their gods like the Israelites had in the God of Israel. The God of Israel, believed to be the God of the universe and the maker of the earth. Other regions had a concept of a god for specific regions.
 
Israelites proclaimed and believed that the God of Israel was the one true God who was the maker of all creation. Hearing these claims, the other regions were angry at the Israelites.

There are 2 ways to understand their faith:

1. Israel’s God is the God of the whole universe.
2. The God of the universe is the God of Israel.

This is a liberating truth! We should have pride in the fact that our God is the true God and not only just a concept in our minds.
 
In Psalm 121:2, it says, My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

We have to remember that we have the supreme help from God. There is no other God like our God. In fact, He is the supreme being and from Him we have the supreme help.

In Psalm 121:3-5, it says, (3) He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; (4) indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. (5) The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

Going up the mountain is not an easy task but fear not! He will not let us slip and fall. Even in the journey of life, he will continue to uphold us. We need to remember that He is the perfect sentinel. Even when those appointed to look after and protect the city like police and security have fallen asleep, God is awake, waiting and watching over us! We all live under the shade of God. We might have to face all kinds of weather conditions but God is offering to hide us under His shade of protection.

In Psalm 121:6 it says, the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

We might not realise it but the sun and moon brings forth its set of problems in our lives as they are afflicted. Sun presents problems like heat strokes, exhaustion and so on. Lunatic problems from the moon also exist. It is not for us to worry because the Lord will take care of us from getting sun-struck or moon-struck.

In Psalm 121:7-8, it says, (7) The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; (8) the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

We are the chosen and lucky ones who have been offered a full coverage safety package from the Lord! In all our journeys we will receive His mercy. We should declare and proclaim Psalm 121 as we head forth in the journey of life.
 
We need to believe all of this for the work of our Lord to take place in our lives! Our connection is upward towards God.

Always remember that Christian life and a life of faith is an upward journey.