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1 !!! "#$%&'!()*&+&!,-.!/!0#.1!2&%345! 6-7$8+!,*-1!9:!;#%%#.<$8.!! >IB$*&!>$+&&$!,-$*&1+-%!! Chad E. Billington

2 %&'!()!*+!)#,(-./0'!12#$*2!/2!12#$*!343! I have sung this psalm, and know several renditions of it in song that I really appreciate and enjoy. Psalm 121 (NIV) - A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. 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; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 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. 56/2!12#$*!7#2!(&!*+!6'#.0!(&!,#8#0/(&! As I was on vacation, Heidi and I have been trying to train Nathaniel to sleep through the night, an this passage came to mind, and I was quoting it to him as I was trying to get him to rest. I ve loved this Psalm for years. Susan Ashton does a great rendition of it on My Utmost for His Highest: The Covenant album, which came out quite a while ago. The question o What about when it doesn t seem true? o The story of someone I met once told me they were a Christian and they had been raped. It was then they realized that God wouldn t protect me. o The Tension How to we mesh a Psalm that declares God s protection with situations like that girl s? o Is it false to say God will protect us? o I don t want to make excuses for God o Are we misunderstanding? o Does God protect or not? ()*&+&!,-.!/!0#.1!2&%345! JGHEG! 6-<&!G!8K!L!

3 Sitting in the tension o The Bible talks a lot about God s people being protected, blessed, prosperous, and sometimes it just doesn t look real. o Am I the only one who has asked this question? Does it bug you sometimes? Looking at the passage o This is one of the Psalms of Ascents, songs that were sung by people going to Jerusalem on pilgrimage, to come to one of the pilgrim festivals (Passover, Festival of Weeks, & Tabernacles) o Who were these pilgrims, what was their world like. o They were on a long journey (robbers were a real problem). o Many would be agricultural, some perhaps returning for a foreign land (depending on when they were written). o Audience: Pilgrims on the journey to Jerusalem, the Jews, God s people o No strangers to adversity The turning point: o Who looks for help? Those who need help? Those in distress. Psalm 46:1 (NIV) God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm is a proclamation that defies circumstances to realize the truth that God is our ever present help in times of trouble, a declaration, and the first verse is the key verse. The people who sang this Psalm would not make the incorrect assumption that we might in our part of the world. We say, if something happens to be that s bad, then God s not real, his protection isn t real. Isaiah 55:8 (NIV) 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. This is what I call a declaration of faith. ()*&+&!,-.!/!0#.1!2&%345! JGHEG! 6-<&!M!8K!L!

4 1.(8$#/*/&9!/&!"#/06!/2!:/))'.'&0!06#&!:'&+/&9!;'#$/0+! The story of three boys in Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. (read it all in Daniel 3) Daniel 3:16 18 (NIV) 16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. o Stories of faith o Boldness to believe provision (my scholarship to Fuller) o Claim that death will not destroy (parents praying) o A trust in God in the face of sickness and death. The most important part of the psalm is the first two verses: Psalm 121 (NIV) - A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. <6#0!/2!+(-.!='8$#.#0/(&!()!)#/06>! This hymn was written by a Chicago lawyer, Horatio G. Spafford. You might think to write a worship song titled, 'It is well with my soul', you would indeed have to be a rich, successful Chicago lawyer. But the words, "When sorrows like sea billows roll... It is well with my soul, were not written during the happiest period of Spafford's life. On the contrary, they came from a man who had suffered almost unimaginable personal tragedy. ()*&+&!,-.!/!0#.1!2&%345! JGHEG! 6-<&!N!8K!L!

5 Horatio G. Spafford and his wife, Anna, were pretty well-known in 1860 s Chicago. And this was not just because of Horatio's legal career and business endeavors. The Spaffords were also prominent supporters and close friends of D.L. Moody, the famous preacher. In 1870, however, things started to go wrong. The Spaffords' only son was killed by scarlet fever at the age of four. A year later, it was fire rather than fever that struck. Horatio had invested heavily in real estate on the shores of Lake Michigan. In 1871, every one of these holdings was wiped out by the great Chicago Fire. Aware of the toll that these disasters had taken on the family, Horatio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a holiday to England. And, not only did they need the rest -- DL Moody needed the help. He was traveling around Britain on one of his great evangelistic campaigns. Horatio and Anna planned to join Moody in late And so, the Spaffords traveled to New York in November, from where they were to catch the French steamer 'Ville de Havre' across the Atlantic. Yet just before they set sail, a lastminute business development forced Horatio to delay. Not wanting to ruin the family holiday, Spafford persuaded his family to go as planned. He would follow on later. With this decided, Anna and her four daughters sailed East to Europe while Spafford returned West to Chicago. Just nine days later, Spafford received a telegram from his wife in Wales. It read: "Saved alone." On November 2nd 1873, the 'Ville de Havre' had collided with 'The Lochearn', an English vessel. It sank in only 12 minutes, claiming the lives of 226 people. Anna Spafford had stood bravely on the deck, with her daughters Annie, Maggie, Bessie and Tanetta clinging desperately to her. Her last memory had been of her baby being torn violently from her arms by the force of the waters. Anna was only saved from the fate of her daughters by a plank which floated beneath her unconscious body and propped her up. When the survivors of the wreck had been rescued, Mrs. Spafford's first reaction was one of complete despair. Then she heard a voice speak to her, "You were spared for a purpose." And she immediately recalled the words of a friend, "It's easy to be grateful and good when you have so much, but take care that you are not a fairweather friend to God." Upon hearing the terrible news, Horatio Spafford boarded the next ship out of New York to join his bereaved wife. Bertha Spafford (the fifth daughter of Horatio and Anna born later) explained that during her father's voyage, the captain of the ship had called him to the bridge. "A careful reckoning has been made", he said, "andi believe we are now passing the place where the de Havre was wrecked. The water is three miles deep." Horatio then returned to his cabin and penned the lyrics of his great hymn. The words which Spafford wrote that day come from 2 Kings 4:26. They echo the response of the Shunammite woman to the sudden death of her only child. Though we are told "her soul is vexed within her", she still maintains that 'It is well." And Spafford's song reveals a man whose trust in the Lord is as unwavering as hers was. It would be very difficult for any of us to predict how we would react under circumstances similar to those experienced by the Spaffords. But we do know that the God who sustained them would also be with us. ()*&+&!,-.!/!0#.1!2&%345! JGHEG! 6-<&!O!8K!L!

6 No matter what circumstances overtake us may we be able to say with Horatio Spafford This story was copied from ()*&+&!,-.!/!0#.1!2&%345! JGHEG! 6-<&!L!8K!L!