Unto the hills around do I lift upSince I have lived in West Virginia, I have looked at many hilltops, usually from the valley below. Those hilltops can seem threatening as I am hiking or running or biking up them. They are formidable opponents. The psalmist writes from a time when competing gods' altars were placed on the high places. After all, the higher you were, the less distance the rising smoke of your sacrifice had to travel. Hilltops and mountain peaks were sacred places.
My longing eyes;
Oh whence for me shall my salvation come,
From whence arise?
But for the psalmist they were threatening. Those hills unto which the eyes were lifted up were homes to the gods who opposed the God of Israel. But this psalm is not a fearful plea. The psalmist is not questioning where God is in all of the confusion of the world. No, instead our writer is continually proclaiming that his (AND our) help (or salvation as the hymn text puts it) comes from the "LORD who made heaven and earth."
Even better, this God, is not one who is relegated to the hill tops waiting for sacrifices. Our psalm paints a picture throughout of a God who is actively engaged with us. Not just during favorable moments, but also during our treks through valleys, when we wonder about our society's competing gods, those powers which lay before us another claim to supremacy, which may threaten, intrigue or repel us. God is there in our midst watching over us.
To do that our God must be a God who travels and wanders with us. This wandering nature of God is precisely why this psalm is a traditional psalm at funerals. There is no journey on which God will not accompany us, even one that leads through the valley of the shadow of death (to quote another psalm). We are forever safe in God's care. Let us remember the closing verse of the psalm and treasure it for here is truly the good news. "The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore (Ps. 121:8)."
Pr. Brian
1 comment:
Some interesting observations about John Campbell's hymn and the psalm. I'd never thought of the idea of the hills being connected with false gods. More likely, especially if the "Songs of Ascents" were used by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, it was robbers lurking in the hills that gave travelers anxiety.
If you'd like to learn more about Campbell (very interesting man!) I invite you to check out my blog for today on Wordwise Hymns.
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