Where Do I Turn When Life is Hard? (Psalm 121) 06.28.2026
Sermon Manuscript
We are starting a six week series on the Psalms of Ascent. The Psalms of Ascent are Psalms 120-134 and they are called this because three times a year, the adult males would travel up to Jerusalem for Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacle feasts respectively. This trip was literally up hill and these songs were the soundtrack for the pilgrimage. They would start with Psalm 120 as they prepared and then sing through the Psalms of Ascent as they ascended to Jerusalem.
I just want this to set in. Imagine if God required every Christian in America to physically travel to one city three times a year for worship. It would disrupt our schedules, cost money, require sacrifice, and force us to prioritize worship over convenience. That’s precisely the point. God was teaching Israel that worship wasn’t something to fit around life. Worship was the center around which life revolved.
And this journey was difficult. There were robbers, harsh terrain, weather, fatigue, and uncertainty. And while we are not required to make this literal journey, our Christian life with God is often described as a journey. We all know what it’s like to be on a difficult road. Roads with hard marriages, wayward children, cancer diagnoses, financial pressure, anxiety, loneliness, and grief. So the first question any pilgrim asks as they begin a journey is simple: when life gets hard, where do I look for help? And Psalm 121 answers that question in four parts. And this will be a shorter than normal sermon as we are welcoming 20 new members into the church at the end of the service.
- We naturally look for help in the wrong places 1-2
The Psalm begins with this question. I lift up my eyes to hills. From where does my help come from? Now, there are various ideas about why the pilgrims are looking to the hills and asking this question. It could be that the mountains represented danger. Bandits often hid in the hills. It could be referencing pagan shrines that were built on high places contrasting them with the God of Israel. Either way, the psalm acknowledges that there will be danger. The pilgrim is aksing, “Where am I going to find help for what lies ahead?”
What I appreciate here is the acknowledgement of danger and difficulty. Faith isn’t pretending everything is ok. And when difficulty comes, we are tempted to look to so many other things for security instead of God. When life becomes difficult, we instinctively look for saviors. We look to money, control, achievement, politics, relationships, comfort, and distractions for what only God can give us. The human heart will always manufacture alternative sources of security.
Then, verse two answers the question: My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. Not merely God. Not merely the divine. Not merely the God who saved me from my sins. But the covenant Lord. And not merely the God who has things that can benefit us. But the God who created heaven and earth. The One who has made everything is able to help us with anything. The help we have in the Lord isn’t rooted in what He can do for us, but who He is.
And this isn’t just academic theology, this is such good news! God who is in control of everything will help us with anything. He is sovereign so we can let go of the burdens that we can’t control. We can give Him the things we can’t fix.
So, the question we need to ask ourselves is this. When pressure rises, when things get tough, when the journey ahead seems scary, what is our first instinctive source of security? What are you afraid of losing right now? Whatever comes to mind first may reveal where you’ve been looking for help. That’s the kind of heart probing this Psalm wants us to do as the journey begins.
II. God’s help is constant because God never stops watching over His people 3-4
Throughout the rest of this short psalm one word is repeated six times: keep. He who keeps you. So, what kind of help does God provide? Notice what the Psalm promises and what it doesn't. It doesn't promise immediate rescue. It doesn't promise changed circumstances. It promises a Keeper.
Then you have this really cool image in verse three. He who keeps you will not slumber. Ancient gods were thought to be fickle and inattentive. You may remember Eliah mocking Baal saying, “Maybe he’s asleep.” But the God of Israel never dozes off. He never gets distracted. He never misses a crisis. He never needs an update. And He never says, “Man, I didn’t see that coming!”
One thing that was always scary for me was when my kids were little and they would have a really high fever at night. I don’t know why, but it seemed like it always happened at night. Angela and I would give medicine and do the sponge baths, but then it really was just a waiting game. They didn’t have the ability to tell us when they felt the fever rising. It was just up to us to know. I’d do my best to stay awake and monitor the temperature, but eventually we all fall asleep. Even if it’s just for a bit. But, our Heavenly Father never does.
Tim Keller once said, “Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong.” Our confidence is not that nothing bad can happen to us. It’s that nothing can happen outside the care of God. He is always awake, always watching, always caring, and always in control. And if that is true, then it should have massive implications on our worry and our bitterness.
III. God’s help is personal because God Himself draws near 5-6
The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand. This is really intimate language. In the ancient Near East, shade wasn’t just nice, it was necessary for survival. And the Psalmist doesn’t say that God will send shade, he says that God is our shade. And He is our shade at our right hand. God positions Himself right beside His people.
And this isn’t the only place that says this. Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power. - Ex 15:6 The Lord is at your right hand - Psalm 110:5 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken - Psalm 16:8
And notice the word ‘your’ being used three times. Your keeper, your shade, your right hand. That isn’t a generic providence. Many of us functionally believe that God operates like a good travel agent. He books the trip, gives us the itinerary, and we'll see Him at the destination. Psalm 121 says something far better. He walks the road with us.
I find that many people, even non-Christians believe that God rules the universe. They don’t have a problem believing the beginning of the psalm that God created the heavens and the earth. But far fewer really believe that this same God is personally attentive to them. Psalm 121 is saying that the God who created and governs the galaxies is standing right beside you during your entire journey.
Some of you have had the experience of walking into a hospital room where someone you love is suffering. And you really don’t know what to say. There isn’t a verse that fixes it. There isn’t an explanation that suddenly makes everything make sense. So what do you do? You pull up a chair and sit beside them. Why? Because presence communicates something explanations never can. You are saying, “I can’t take this away. I can’t carry it for you. But you will not carry it alone.”
Now sure, God can do all those things, but it’s this kind of presence that Psalm 121 is picturing. God doesn’t merely send instructions from heaven. He doesn’t merely send resources. He doesn’t merely promise that everything will work out in the end. He certainly does do all those things, but He also comes near. He sits and walks beside His people on our journeys and says, “You will not walk this road alone.”
IV. God will keep us all the way home 7-8
The LORD will keep you from all evil. Well, that raises a few questions. Really? Christians get cancer. Christians lose jobs. Christians die. So, what in the world does this verse promise? The promise is actually bigger than physical safety. The psalm is not promising a trouble free life. It’s promising a God-secured destination. Nothing can ultimately destroy God’s purposes for His people. The promise isn't that everything is good. The promise is that God is so sovereign that He can even bend evil toward our eternal good. Romans 8:28 says, “ And we know that for those who love God all things work together hfor good,8 for ithose who are called according to his purpose.
Every challenge that enters our lives must first pass through the hands of our Father. And we see the scope of God care this way in verse eight. The LORD will keep your fgoing out and your coming in…This is a Hebrew expression that means everything, everywhere, and always. Kind of like we might say ‘from top to bottom.’
And then we reach the climax of the psalm, …from this time forth and forevermore. The journey does not end in Jerusalem. The journey ends in glory. As all of the Old Testament does, this psalm ultimately points us to Jesus. The pilgrim asks, “Where does my help come from?” The fullest answer is Jesus.
Jesus entered a world filled with danger. Jesus walked the hardest road. Jesus experienced the ultimate moment of abandonment on the cross. On the cross, Jesus experienced the one thing Psalm 121 says God's people never will. He was truly forsaken. The Keeper turned His face away. The One who neither slumbers nor sleeps did not intervene. Why? So that everyone united to Christ could know that they will never walk a road alone.
And through His death and resurrection, sin was defeated, death was conquered, and our future was secured. Because Christ was forsaken, God’s people never will be. Because He rose, the promise of Psalm 121 becomes permanent. The God who kept Israel as they ascended to Jerusalem keeps all His people through Christ.
Where in your life do you need to believe that this is true? Where is worry showing up because you feel God is asleep? Where are you trying to fix the problem yourself? Where are you putting hope in something other than God?
Every pilgrim eventually faces hills. A diagnosis. A betrayal. A funeral. A prodigal. A future you didn’t choose or see coming. But the question is not whether hills will appear. The question is where will we look when they do? The psalmist answers that question: My help comes from the LORD, who made the heaven and earth. And because He is our Keeper, God’s help is greater than our greatest need.
