Psalm 121 verses one and two are some of the most well known verses in the Bible.  Pause for a moment and read the entire Psalm before we start our devotional thought today (it is only eight verses long!).  Now, stop and think.  Years ago you used to hear verses one and two quoted together, even by secular sources, but now, more often than not, we are hearing just verse one: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help."  Many greeting cards of inspirational quality, have just this one verse imprinted along with a beautiful scene of nature, lovely hills with shaded woods and flowing streams, or high mountain plateaus and plunging waterfalls.  The "inspiration" is generic and could mean that the view of the hills and nature is what gives a person "help."  While we certainly can be refreshed by a day spent outdoors or in the quietness of nature, nature is not a personal Being capable of truly helping us.  God created the earth and all that is in it, including the hills, and He alone is able to comfort and guide us.  Even those things of beauty in nature were made that way by the mighty hand of God with the partial purpose of being pleasing to man.  It seems that the world is trying to make us forget God, even by twisting His Word.  I had a professor in Bible college who said we could read these verses in two different ways and find out a lot about our views of God.

1)     "I lift up mine eyes unto the hills.  From whence cometh my help?  My help cometh from the Lord!"  This person has real life needs, questions himself as to where he could find the answers, and then declares that those answers are in the Lord and Him alone!

2)     "I lift up mine eyes unto the hills and look for my help there."  Very significant for David’s time, as many idol groves were in the hills, and many looked for spiritual help there.  This person seeks guidance from things other than God.

How are we reading these verses in our lives today?  Are we totally committed to finding help solely from the Lord, by His direction through the Scripture and the Holy Spirit’s guidance?  The rest of Psalm 121 definitely declares that it is the Lord alone who is our keeper, our shade, the preserver of our soul, and our helper!  Let’s not be tricked by the world into thinking that we can find help any other place but in the presence of the Lord.  We can not find it in drugs (and it does not have to be just street drugs that people turn to for help over difficult moments), alcohol, pleasures of the flesh, activity, spending money, getting things or the like.  But we also cannot find true lasting help from friends, doctors, "professionals" or education if those things are not in line with the Lord’s superintending help.  Yes, while a trip to the hills may give me temporary rest, only the Lord is the helper of my soul!

Throughout Psalm 136, the phrase found in the last half of this verse is repeated: for his mercy endureth for ever.  With every statement of praise, the thought is repeated, over and over again, for all 26 verses of the Psalm.  If we read the entire Psalm and use our private imagination, we could see ourselves saying the first half of each verse, and the chorus of the redeemed of all ages echoing forth the repeated phrase.  Over and over again, louder and louder, with more and more confidence and joy, those that have gone before speak these words to our hearts!  God’s mercy does endure forever and forever!  Have you ever been in deepest despair and felt as if all had deserted you?  If this was ever true of you in the past, you certainly found that when you looked back, God’s mercy was always there for you!  Out of tragedy, God can bless our hearts.  He can give peace and comfort, by His mercy.  What a joy to know that all through our life, whatever befalls us, God will be there and His mercy will be available for us, because it never fails.  When we stand before Him in Heaven and our life’s journey is over, we can echo with the chorus: His mercy endureth for ever!  It will take us through death and beyond.  Throughout all eternity, we never need fear our eternal state because: His mercy endureth for ever!  To quickly review Psalm 136, these are some of the reasons we can be assured of His enduring mercy and take comfort from it: God is good and worthy of thanksgiving, He is a God of great wonders, He created the earth with great wisdom, He stands by His chosen people, He never forgets His own, He redeems us, feeds us and cares for us, He is the Only true God of the Heavens and His power is great!  Do not despair today, count on God’s faithfulness to you, because His mercy endureth for ever: through every trial, through all our failures, through triumphs and joys, sadness and sorrow: His mercy endureth for ever.  Take advantage of that mercy today, come to Him who is waiting to bestow you with the riches of His mercy and love.  As you face each trial today, name it to yourself and within your heart confidently sing out, His mercy endureth for ever.  As joys come your way, pause in thankfulness and repeat the refrain, His mercy endureth for ever.  As you must labor to complete a task, realize where your strength will come from and repeat, His mercy endureth for ever.  As you reach out to a friend in emotional or spiritual need, share with her, His mercy endureth for ever.  As you lay your head on your pillow tonight in the safety of your home, reflect on His guiding care through the day and breathe a softly spoken prayer of love, His mercy endureth for ever.  Amen.

Into each one of our lives some trouble will fall.  It may be trouble of our own making, or that which we can not avoid because of our stand for the Lord.  It can be trouble in our family or trouble in our church or town.  It may be trouble from the storms or violence of nature, or trouble of a financial matter.  It may be trouble brought upon us innocently by the dealings of others even if we do not deserve it.  It may be trouble for one of our loved ones with whom we must enter into the arena of trial.  It may be trouble of physical illness or crisis of another sort.  The list could go on and on, but this one thing we do know: trouble will come upon us.  David, the same writer of many Psalms, writes these words to us.  It was he who said, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me...  Now he talks about the trials of life with the same confidence in the Lord, and we can hear him say: "Yea, though I walk in the midst of trouble, THOU ART WITH ME!"  One of the true secrets of a victorious Christian life is having an absolute confidence in the Lord.  Without that, we can never step out on faith, stand in the face of trial and temptation, or make courageous choices.  Confidence to know without reservation that the Lord will always be with us as our Comfort and Guide, the Preserver of our souls and our God, is vital to success in our life.  Examine your heart today, and decide: do I have that unwavering confidence in the Lord that I should?  If you do, then He will be the One you turn to in times of need, He will be the focus of your life and testimony, He will be your Lord as well as your God.  David was a practical person.  He knew that life would not always be a bed of roses.  He knew that not only would trouble come, but that in his own strength, he would not always be able to stand.  Notice carefully the words that he uses as God’s response and help to him in times when David would have to be in the midst of trouble, totally surrounded by it: God would revive him.  When he faints in his own strength, when the world has sought to knock him down, God will revive him and give him strength to continue.  In the boxing world, the fighter stands in the middle of the arena ready to do battle with his opponent.  His manager has trained him and given him every advise he will need for the fight.  He has taught him his weaknesses and strengths and those of his opponent.  If he has a topnotch manager, the fighter has been fully prepared to meet all that may come his way.  But the manager does not walk away when the bell rings and leave his fighter to himself.  No, he is right there at ring side, encouraging him, instructing him.  If the fighter should falter or be knocked down by the opponent, it is the manager who rushes in to help him to ringside where he revives him and gives him counsel to continue.  We are in the arena of life and our battle is with our opponent, the devil.  God is like that manager in the boxing world, but even better, for He enters the arena with us, He holds up our arms when we would falter on our own and is ever ready to aid us.  If we should ever slip or are temporarily knocked down, He is there to revive us, wipe our spiritual brow with the cool, clear and refreshing water of life and strengthens us deep within with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Be assured today that when trouble comes, God will be there to walk through the midst of it with you, and if you should falter, He will revive you and set you on the path of victory in His strength!

Again, David expresses total confidence in the Lord’s dealings in his life!  He knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God will perfect that which concerns him.  What a tremendous blessing it is in our lives when we can join with David in this area of confidence.  It is as if we can view our life as a book being written.  The author, God, knows the outcome and completion of the novel.  He knows how many chapters there are until the end, how many characters will be introduced and how many plot lines will be followed.  As a skilled writer would complete all story lines, so God will bring to completion and perfect all those areas that He has introduced into our life story.  He will not leave one thread untied or one (to us) mystery unsolved.  He will perfect all that concerns us.  As it is with our little babies, so it is with our lives.  When that baby was born and placed into our arms, he was a complete individual, yet he was not "perfected" yet.  His body had a lot of growing to do, his mind was as an open slate waiting to be written upon, his personality was not yet formed and all of life lay ahead.  What an exciting thing it is for us as parents to be invited spectators on all that lies ahead to the forming of the adult individual.  God deals with each of His children in all the areas of their life with one goal in mind, their perfection.  The concept of perfection means not only complete and whole, but mature.  God will bring to completion all the areas of our lives, He will also make the fragments of shattered lives whole, and He will work in our lives to bring us to maturity.  Think of all the areas in your life today that concern you, that make you wonder how they will work out.  God has them in His control.  If you have given them to Him, you may be confident that He will perfect each area, because it concerns you!  Sometimes the working out of the problem comes quickly, sometimes a solution can take a lifetime, or even beyond our lifetime.  For centuries, the Jewish people prayed to be returned to their homeland in the nation Israel.  During those centuries, the Jews were scattered throughout the world.  Often they suffered greatly and many times others tried to exterminate them.  The Catholics instituted their Inquisition, governments their pogroms, and still the faithful Jews prayed.  During World War II, at one of the darkest hours for the Jews, when all looked totally hopeless, God was perfecting that which concerned them.  Within months of the war, thousands were in their prayed for homeland and within two years it was declared to be the nation Israel.  Yet even with the official sanctioning, God is still perfecting that which concerns His nation, waiting for the time when they shall all recognize Jesus as Messiah at the Second Coming.  Millions died through the centuries without seeing the fulfillment of their prayer, but all along God was perfecting that which had to be done for His plan to be complete.  Think of the joy of the faithful redeemed in Heaven when they viewed through eternity’s eyes the scope and plan of God in fulfilling that which concerned His nation Israel.  Now think of your own life and all those things that are of concern to you.  The list will probably be very long: family, individuals, children, loved ones, problems, opportunities, needs.  God is working and dealing with each and every one of them.  Have you truly and with heartfelt sincerity turned all of them over to God in faith believing that He is faithful?  Then think of yourself, all the areas of your life that need perfecting.  God is working there, too.  Uniquely, He desires that you enter in with Him as a partner in the perfecting work in your own life.  If there are habits that need to be changed or broken, be a partner with God and see His perfecting power demonstrated.  If there are goals that need to be reached, work together with Him.  We are the works of His own hands.  He will continue to mold and remake us until we are perfected in His sight, as long as we do not fight against Him.  All those worries, all those concerns, give them to God today.  Trust Him, He will bring it to pass.  In my own life, I can look back on the amazing ways some things that had seemed impossible were brought to perfection.  I can also think of all the things that still have not "arrived" and be confident that my God is working in His way, in His time and according to His plan, which is much more marvelous than mine.  Even if some things must be resolved in the future, even after I am no longer on the earth to be actively involved, I will trust Him, who only desires my good, for His mercy endureth for ever!

Years ago, when I was writing a devotional for young mothers, I claimed the concept behind this verse as being one of the most important in Christian growth.  When we truly realize and reckon in our lives that God searches our hearts and knows everything about us, so many things will be changed.  We will realize that we can not play pretenses with God.  While we might be able to fool some people, we can never fool God.  We do not have to act one way in public and another in private to impress God.  He knows all about us.  There are no secret sins with God, no private thoughts, they are all open to Him.  The total concept is that we can relax and be all that God wants us to be.  Because He already knows our sins, we should not have to debate whether or not to confess those sins.  We can be open, honest and sincere with Him about everything.  That "everything" includes our fears, our hopes, our dreams, our goals, our concerns, our weaknesses, our temptations, our everything.  God already knows, so share all with Him.  Then there is the confidence to know that nothing is hid from Him, that He is constantly and intimately aware of everything in our lives.  We need never fear that something will befall us of which God is unaware.  There is no possibility that God would not know in advance all that will happen to us in the future.  We can totally trust Him with our lives and those of our loved ones.  Sometimes, even Christians are tempted to think that God has left them or does not really understand.  Psalm 139:1 teaches us that concept can never be true.  Each time we are tempted to follow the world’s advice instead of godly precepts, what we are expressing in our life is the thought that God does not really know the solution or best course of action.  If we claim this verse, we will realize that God always knows what is best for us even if it does not make sense to the world or even to ourselves.  In that respect, we must also realize that God knows more about us then even we know ourselves.  The old adage, "Man, to thine own self be true," is only a half truth.  If we give into our own desires, they may not be the desires of God.  The better adage, would be, "Man, to thine own God be true."  Our God is that God who knows our "downsittings and uprisings," our thoughts and paths of life, our enemies and our friends, the dangers and the places of safety for us.  God knows more about us than we could ever know.  We can totally and completely trust Him, be ourselves with Him, and let Him work His will in our lives.  How very wonderful, in this world where so many people seem to wear so many different "faces," that we can be "one-faced" with God.  Read Psalm 139 through just now and consider this in your heart: is there any area of your life in which you have been trying to "play pretenses" with God?  Are there any unconfessed sins, fears or temptations?  Is there any area where there is not total trust?  Give it all to Him today.  He already knows all about each area.  He has searched you, He has made you, He dwells within.  Truly, He knows all about you.

Every Christian should desire to know God’s will for their life and for their family and their church.  This verse contains some of the "secrets of knowing God’s will."  It also reveals to us one of the tremendous blessings that can be ours if we know and follow God’s will, that of being lead into the land of uprightness.  Just like a school lesson, let’s dissect this verse.  First, to know God’s will, we must have a teachable spirit.  The Psalmist prayed: Teach me to do thy will.  One year when I was teaching Junior High School, there was a boy in my room who failed in all his subjects.  His big brother was probably the top academic student in the high school and his parents were lovely Christian people.  This boy was not failing because he was unable to understand the subject matter.  In fact, I believe that he was as smart as his brother.  No, he was failing because he did not have a teachable spirit.  His deep roots of rebellion had caused him to close his heart and mind to any instruction.  I had come in the middle of the semester to take over teaching the class and from the day that I entered until the last day of school, I only had two moments of success with the young man.  I tried every "trick" of the teaching trade.  I prayed for him and loved him, talked to him and called in the assistance of the principal and his parents, but it was to no avail.  Until he decided to be teachable, I could do nothing with him.  Of all the children that I taught in school over twelve years, he is one of just two that I recommended to be failed for the year.  In both cases, it was never intelligence or performance that dictated that decision, but failure due to rebellion and total lack of participation: being unteachable.  This boy, especially, was a burden to my heart, a constant disappointment and a total failure as an eighth grader.  If we do not have the spiritual maturity to come to God with a teachable spirit, we, too, will be failures, burdens and disappointments.  The opposite of the true heart attitude God desires for us, is one of rebellion.  We need to pray to the Lord, asking Him to reveal any such ugly areas of rebellion in our own hearts in the school room of life.  We need to realize that we do not know it all.  Another student I had (also Junior High level) had the constant attitude that he knew it all.  It was as if no one was quite as intelligent as he was, including his teachers.  It was true that he was a very smart young boy, but many of us certainly had greater experience and background, and we were all given to him by God to help and enhance his learning and performance.  I finally prayed that God would even let him fail if that was what it would take to give him a teachable spirit.  I shall never forget the first day I was introducing him to algebra.  He would not take instruction and was making it very difficult for me to teach him.  Finally, I realized the opportunity as from God.  I stopped trying to teach him and gave him the assignment with a thirty minute deadline, promising I would be back.  In thirty minutes, I came back to his desk to find a young boy with his head humbly lowered and no work completed.  He looked up with surprised eyes and said, "Would you please help me, I don’t think I know how to do this."  How much better to have a teachable spirit than to have to experience a God allowed failure to bring us to our knees.  When I think that I know it all and independently think that I can do it on my own, I am bound for failure.  But when I humbly come to God and ask His instruction and patient teaching, He will lead me in the paths that I should go.  Secondly, in the sectioning of our verse, we must realize that God is our God and that His Spirit is good.  God wants us to grant Him His rightful place in all aspects of our life.  We must allow Him to be God, our God, not only in our salvation but in every area, holding nothing back.  There can be no bitterness against God, no doubting His goodness, otherwise, there can be no victory.  We need to say to our spirit, "God’s Spirit is always completely good!"  With that realizing will come trust and peace within.  Thirdly, in our study, comes the prayer and the promise: lead me into the land of uprightness.  When we ask to be taught of the Lord, we must realize also that His will and way leads to the land of uprightness, to the living of a pure and righteous life.  That may mean some changes will have to be made.  The things of sin and the world and mediocrity will have to be left behind.  We must have willing hearts to enter into the higher plane of God’s standards.  We will have to be part of that unique group of God’s people who are willing to say, "Wherever You lead I’ll go, Lord, and I really mean it!"  We must be willing to be not just taught, but to receive that instruction and act upon it.  So we can discover the secret of knowing God’s will from Psalm 143: Have a teachable heart, acknowledge God in His Lordship in all areas of your life, and be willing to step out on faith to follow His leading.  The promises of the Lord are also found there.  God will answer your prayer: teach you, bless you with His goodness, lead you and bring you into the land of uprightness.

David is praying for the riches of God’s blessings upon himself and also upon the nation God gave him to lead.  In the midst of that prayer is this beautiful verse concerning children.  David had just requested of the Lord that he would be delivered from strange and lying children, full of falsehood.  Then the request is made in beautiful poetic terms sharing what he hopes for children in their character.  For the sons, the prayer is that they will be as plants grown up in their youth.  David’s desire was that the full productiveness of a mature plant would be seen in the sons even when they were still in their youth.  Youth would be that unique time past boyhood, but still not to full adulthood.  David could see sons as seeds of promise, planted in the ground by faith, trusting God for the harvest.  When he saw them break forth as little seedlings at birth, as lovely as they were, filled with the promise of harvest, they were still little babes of potential.  But as they grew and reached forth their limbs into the sunlight, the goal would always be for them to become productive plants.  David’s prayer was that they would reach that potential early.  One summer, I planted broccoli in my garden.  I had started it in the early spring in a flat and then transplanted the young plants into the garden when it was warm enough.  They looked healthy enough and continued to grow, but they never reached the productive stage before the cold winter temperatures killed them.  They had remained immature so long that their enemy was able to cut them down.  We should pray for our sons that they would develop spiritual maturity in their youth so that when the enemy of their souls comes along to destroy them, they will be able to stand, already as producing plants, strong and fulfilling God’s design for their lives.  The great number of young men that are almost destroyed in their teenage years is alarming.  The devil never wants them to reach maturity.  We as parents, must be as husbandmen in God’s fields with our sons.  We must nurture them, give them stakes to help them grow strong and straight.  We must make certain that they are kept in the place of fullest sunlight coming from God’s teaching and Word.  We must water them daily with tears of prayer and love.  We must be willing to prune them if they shot up the wrong way or let their productiveness go into their leafy parts instead of heading them towards God’s goal.  We can’t force an early blooming, or they will wither and die, but we must encourage their full blooming in their youth.  Our sons are the seeds of promise, the hope of a good harvest, we must invest our time and energy to help them grow strong and tall in their spirits as well as their bodies.  No proper farmer would neglect his fields, but will work with them every day.  So must we with our sons.  Then David turns to the daughters.  He asks that they be as cornerstones, polished after the likeness of a palace.  Daughters will grow to be the heart of their future homes.  We should desire that those homes will be built on strong and firm foundations.  Those places where our grandchildren will be raised must have strong cornerstones or they will not stand for the Lord.  It is like the illustration of the young builder coming to choose the materials for his own home.  He carefully chooses that which is of the finest quality and the strongest material.  He wants his home to stand the test of time and trials.  When a young man comes to seek a wife, he should look for the same thing: a young woman of the highest and most enduring quality, one who will cause his future home to stand true for the Lord.  It is our responsibility to raise our daughters so that they will be those strong cornerstones.  But our daughters are not to be just ordinary cornerstones, they are to be ones of great beauty and grace, the best of the lot, that have been chosen by the master stone cutter to be polished to a gleaming shine worthy to be used in the palace of the king.  God requires of us to "polish" our daughters to be worthy to serve the King of kings and Lord of lords in His palaces, the homes that will be established to honor Him.  What a beautiful picture of grace and loveliness God chose to use for our daughters.  If you take the time to read Psalm 144, you will notice that the prayer for God’s blessings on Israel’s future starts in the listing of verse 12 with this prayer for the sons and daughters.  It is then followed by the prayers for grain, animals, safety and prosperity.  Nothing is more important or more precious than our children.  When we take this to heart and raise sons as productive young plants and daughters as polished cornerstones, we will be able to claim verse 15: Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.