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In the record of David's flight from Jerusalem, we read:--
"And David went up by the ascent of the mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and
had his head covered, and went barefoot" (II Sam. 15: 30).
But in spite of appearances, and in spite of the most serious alarms, we learn from this
Psalm that instead of a disturbed and anxious night, peace and calm assurance settled
down upon David's troubled spirit. Under that Shield, he says: "I laid me down and
slept; I awaked; for the Lord sustained me."
Here, then, is a title for us to remember in our own time of trial. He, the mighty God,
the Creator of heaven and earth, is "The lifter up of mine head".
#37. Lift up your heads.
"Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills?" (Psa. 121: 1).
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The margin of the A.V. of Psa. 121: 1 suggests that the opening line be read as a
question: "Shall I lift up mine eyes to the hills?"
It is entirely foreign to the teaching of Scripture to suggest that our "help" comes from
"the hills". Indeed, Jeremiah has said: "Truly in vain is salvation hoped from the hills,
and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel"
(Jer. 3: 23). We can understand, perhaps, the poor idolater saying of Israel: "Their gods
are gods of the hills: therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them
in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they" (I Kings 20: 23), but he whose
God is the Lord, the Creator, in Whose presence the hills "melted like wax"
(Psa. 97: 5), at Whose touch the hills "smoke" (Psa. 104: 32), surely his eyes will not be
"unto the hills", but he will say: "From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from
the Lord, which made heaven and earth" (Psa. 121: 1, 2).
When Isaiah would show the vanity of idolatry, he says:--
"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out heaven with
the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the
mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? . . . . . And Lebanon is not sufficient to
burn, nor the beasts thereof for a burnt offering" (Isa. 40: 12-16).
Why should Israel look to the hills, "everlasting" though they may be called? The
promises of the Lord will stand when mountain and hill have vanished: "For the
mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from
thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy
on thee" (Isa. 54: 10).