{"id":24055,"date":"2020-04-04T09:37:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T13:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=24055"},"modified":"2020-05-13T15:32:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T19:32:41","slug":"pastors-ponderings-help-on-a-rough-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=24055","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Ponderings: Help on a Rough Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the coronavirus pandemic (in April of 2020), Pastor Jim wrote the following encouraging reminder from Psalm 121.\u00a0 No matter how rough the road seems now- Look up!\u00a0 God is watching over us and “our help will come from the LORD- the maker of heaven and earth.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

Greetings Friends:<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u00a0
\nPLEASE READ:\u00a0 Psalm 121<\/p>\n\n\t\t

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“I lift up my eyes to the hills\u2014where does my help come from?\u00a0\u00a0My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. <\/span><\/p>\n

He will not let your foot slip\u2014he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. <\/span><\/p>\n

The LORD watches over you\u2014the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. <\/span><\/p>\n

The LORD will keep you from all harm\u2014he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore<\/span>“<\/p>\n

Psalm 121 (all 8 verses)<\/p>\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div> \n

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Historians, Bible Scholars, and Theologians tell us that Psalm\u00a0121<\/a><\/span> is a psalm (actually an ancient song) that God\u2019s people would often sing, probably over and over while making their yearly pilgrimage to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. For many, the miles were long and \"\"treacherous making the traveler vulnerable to all kinds of danger.\u00a0 Remember, they had no interstate highway system in place upon which to travel or a motor club to call on their cell phones if they were in trouble. They couldn\u2019t charter a bus, train, or plane to quickly take them to where they were going. They had good reason to be concerned and like anyone, they wanted the trip(s) to be safe for themselves and their families.\u00a0\u00a0So, as an expression of their faith as they traveled, they would sing this song, Psalm 121.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\nThis wonderful psalm\u00a0was written to remind God\u2019s people of how\u00a0God watches over them in times\u00a0of uncertainty. We see this in the first two verses:\u00a0“I lift up my eyes to the hills, from\u00a0where does my help come from?<\/span>” (v1).\u00a0The answer is found quickly in\u00a0v2,\u00a0“My help comes from the Lord.<\/span>”\u00a0\u00a0While this psalm may have been sung\u00a0by a community of faith, it is a very personal psalm.\u00a0This means that you and I can trust that God cares and is watching over all of us!\u00a0 What confidence, what comfort, what assurance that gives us moving forward…,\u00a0AMEN?<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhen\u00a0difficulty, challenges, uncertainty, confusion\u00a0come into our lives, we can gain strength for what lies ahead by looking to the Lord. Scripture reminds us that God is vigilant and faithful. Read again what the psalmist writes, “I\u00a0lift up\u00a0MY\u00a0eyes to the hills– where \"\"does\u00a0MY\u00a0help come from?\u00a0MY\u00a0help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.<\/span>“<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0The uncertainties before us may not be the same as those faced by ancient Israel, but our unchanging God is still watching over us as He did them. The writer of\u00a0Psalm 121\u00a0helps us to understand that we can have confidence because God is faithful.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe message of this nearly 3,000-year-old psalm is that God is watching over all of us because He cares for us\u00a0deeply.\u00a0God loves you my friends!\u00a0 Stay safe! By all means practice social distancing, practice all of the safety\u00a0recommendations\u00a0being offered to us by our elected and medical officials.\u00a0And keep the faith! Our God is watching over us!<\/span><\/p>\n

Shalom,<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor Jim<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

+\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 +<\/span><\/p>\n

For more Pastor’s Ponderings, click this button:\u00a0 Pastor’s Ponderings<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 121 reminds us that “our help comes from the LORD, the Maker of Heaven and earth”, even while traveling on a road that might seem to be blocked by insurmountable obstacles. In this devotion, Pastor Jim offers encouragement with the powerful truths that are proclaimed in this short Psalm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[137],"class_list":["post-24055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pastors-ponderings","tag-godsprotection"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24055"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24089,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24055\/revisions\/24089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}