PSALMS of ASCENT- Psalm 120 – 134

- “A song for those who go up to Jerusalem”

- Sung by worshippers on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for various Jewish festivals

- “And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside…”Matt. 20:17

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PSALM 121:1-2I lift up my eyes to the hills.From where doesmy help come?My help comes from the Lord,who made heaven and earth.

POSSIBILITIES of HARM...- Stepping on a loose stone; spraining an ankle

POSSIBILITIES of HARM...- Stepping on a loose stone; spraining an ankle Go to a mountaintop shrine to learn a magic spell to ward off demonic mischief

POSSIBILITIES of HARM...- Stepping on a loose stone; spraining an ankle Go to a mountaintop shrine to learn a magic spell to ward off demonic mischief

- Becoming faint from heat (sunstroke) Go to a mountaintop sun priest for protection

POSSIBILITIES of HARM...- Stepping on a loose stone; spraining an ankle Go to a mountaintop shrine to learn a magic spell to ward off demonic mischief

- Becoming faint from heat (sunstroke) Go to a mountaintop sun priest for protection

- Becoming emotionally fatigued (moon stroke) Go to a mountaintop moon priestess to buy an amulet to protect against lunacy

JEREMIAH 3:22-23Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.”“Behold, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God.Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains.Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

PSALM 121:3-4He will not let your foot be moved;He who keeps you will not slumber.Behold, He who keeps Israelwill neither slumber nor sleep.

1 KINGS 18:26-27And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep

and must be awakened.”

PSALM 121:5-6The Lord is your keeper;the Lord is your shade on your right hand.The sun shall not strike you by day,nor the moon by night.

PSALM 121:7-8The Lord will keep you from all evil;He will keep your life.The Lord will keepyour going out and your coming infrom this time forth and forevermore.

EUGENE PETERSONThe promise of (Psalm 121)…is not that weshall never stub our toes, but that no injury,no illness, no accident, no distress will everhave evil power over us, that is, will be ableto separate us from God’s purposes in us…At no time is there the faintest suggestionthat the life of faith exempts us fromdifficulties. What is promised is thepreservation from all the evil in them.

ROMANS 8:38-39For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

ISAIAH 30:15-16For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In repentance and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you would have none of it, and you said,“No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and“We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

PSALM 20:7Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

EUGENE PETERSONThe (most) serious mistake we can make…is to conclude that God has gotten boredlooking after us…or that God has becomedisgusted with us…or that God has gottentoo busy fulfilling prophecy in the Middle Eastto take time now to sort out the complicatedmess we have gotten ourselves into…This is the mistake Psalm 121 prevents:the mistake of assuming that God’s interestin us waxes and wanes in response toour spiritual temperature.