Pray the Psalms: Psalm 121

[MUSIC PLAYING] Hi, it’s Rick Hamlin. Psalm 121– “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” Those little things– “he will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” I’m always thinking of somebody like tapping their foot to music, and he sees it. 

But this bigger image– lifting your eyes to the hills. It always occurred to me when I was a kid why did people close their eyes when they prayed? Why didn’t they open their eyes when they prayed? Well, here is a real open-eyed prayer. 

Years ago I remember visiting an old friend. She had moved into a retirement home, and she had moved into just one room– all her things in just one room. But the thing that room had is it had a view of the mountains. And instead of looking down at sort of her diminished circumstances, she thought– she said to me– she said, oh, I love it. Every morning I lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. 

So to give yourself a reminder– I grew up in a place where there were mountains that I could see in the morning if there wasn’t terrible smog. You could see the mountains. So give yourself something to look at sometimes in your prayer life instead of, yes, I like closing down and looking interiorly. But it’s inspiring to look up to the hills from whence cometh my help. 

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