Psalm 121
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.

So what?

Last week, our Psalm started with a cry of exasperation: Out of the depths, I cry to you, Lord. We were in a tough spot. We turned to the Lord. And to be fair, to his credit, the Lord answered with mercy and forgiveness and unfailing love and full redemption. And after preaching that sermon, I felt good. I felt like a weight had been lifted. I enjoyed the peace and calm that comes from having a clean conscience before God.

A week is a long time, so I don’t remember exactly when that feeling finally faded fully away. But there must have been a specific moment in time when that spiritual high got dragged back down into the depths of a discouraging and depressing world. It’s great to know God’s grace, but let’s be practical for a minute. What good does God’s grace do in our day to day? So things are resolved between me and God; my sin doesn’t separate me from him anymore. His forgiveness has brought me close to him. But what good does forgiveness do when there are also very real dangers around me on all sides?

Our Psalm tonight starts with a similar cry, maybe with a little less exasperation but a little more desperation: I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from?

There are so many things in this world I need help with. There are so many things that cause problems. I need help with them. And don’t get me wrong, it is good to know God’s grace and love and redemption and forgiveness. But that just resolves this (points vertically). What about all this (points horizontally)?

Where do you look for help? Do you go to your spouse? Your boss? Your teacher? A friend? Do you scour the manual for a procedure that’ll solve your problem? Do you rely on the government, the medical system, the legal system to sort it all out? I wouldn’t blame you if you do. I think you should. Those are all wonderful gifts God has given us to lean on. But none of them on their own – or even all of them altogether – will never be enough. There will always be more than they can handle.

Which is why the psalmist doesn’t stop at the mountaintops when he lifts up his eyes. He looks even higher: My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

What is it that troubles you? What is it that is causing you fear, doubt, dread, or worry? Your God is bigger. Your Lord is stronger. He is the Maker of heaven and earth.

The devil is not God’s equal. He’s his subordinate – a rebellious and powerful one, but still subject to God in everything. The devil doesn’t have free range to do whatever he wants. He’s a dog on a chain, limited in his reach by God’s love for you.

We may not have a cure for cancer yet. Its diagnosis can be devastating and even feel like a death sentence. But God is the Lord of life and health. We are his creatures. He knit you together in your mother’s womb. He knows every part of you better than the most comprehensive battery of tests any doctor could do. And he takes care of you.

There is nothing in this world that is greater or stronger than your God – not poverty or homelessness, not conflict or complications, not disappointment or depression. God is greater than them all. And he uses his almighty power for you:

He will not let your foot slip.

It makes me think of walking with my boys in an icy parking lot. The first thing I do is put my hand out for them to grab. And they often do, which is very helpful, but if, when they inevitably slip, I relied on them holding onto my hand to keep them safe, we’d have way more accidents on the ice. I don’t rely on them or their strength to keep them safe. I use mine. I hold onto them, so that even when they do slip, they don’t fall.

That’s what God does for you. And he’s way stronger than your dad. He’s your Father in heaven. And he doesn’t get distracted like your dad might; he’s always paying attention:

He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

It’s hard for us even to imagine. We don’t have a frame of reference. How many times have you lost focus since I started talking? God never does. He doesn’t space out. He doesn’t nod off. He doesn’t need to take time off to recharge. He’s always watching over you. Tirelessly. Vigilantly.

The Lord watches over you – the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

Day or night you need not fear because your watchful God is always near.

The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

There is never a time when your God is not watching. There can be days and times when we are too practical for our own good. When we can hear about the grace and mercy of our God and say, “So what? What about this? And what about that? I need more than your grace, God. I need your help.”

But that’s who he is. He is our help, and he’s the best kind we could ask for. He’s powerful and he’s present. There is nothing he can’t help you with. There is never a time when he is not near. He is always, tirelessly, vigilantly watching over you, and with more than binoculars from a distance. He’s there with you, holding your hand, keeping you from harm, watching over your life every step of the way.

So what? God showed his mercy. He shows us his power and presence too. What more could we ask for? Come back next week, to see how it gets even better when we remember his faithfulness too. Amen.

Psalm 130
A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
2     Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy.
3 If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
    Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
5 I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
6 I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.
8 He himself will redeem Israel
    from all their sins.

This Lenten season we’ll be focusing our attention on a group of Psalms that all share the same heading. They’re all called “Songs of Ascents.” It’s an interesting title especially for a group of Psalms that seem to have come from different authors at different times for different occasions. There are a couple theories as to what this “going up” refers to and why it’s common among these 15 Psalms.

The first theory is that these Psalms were written to commemorate the return of the Israelites from their 70-year exile in Babylon. Historically, that felt like a low point for the nation of Israel. Since its inception, that was the first time it had been utterly defeated, and many of the people who were returning to Israel had never even seen it before. This was a second generation born in exile, having grown up hearing about the greatness of days gone by. And so, this return out of exile feels like coming out of the lowest point in their history.

Another theory is that these Psalms were written to be sung specifically on the occasions of going up to Jerusalem to celebrate any or all of the 3 major annual festivals: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. Because Jerusalem literally sat up in elevation on Mt. Zion, any time you went there, you’d have to go up to Jerusalem. So, it’d make sense to call festival songs, songs of ascent.

There are more theories that I won’t bore you with tonight. I do bring this up because it’s the title of the series, but also because I want you to see how this relates to you even though you’ve likely never been to Jerusalem and you certainly haven’t been a prisoner of war in ancient Babylon.

Whether we’re wondering if 2026 is the high or low point of Christian history in Canada, whether we’re preparing to celebrate one of the most important holidays on the Christian calendar, i.e. the high, high celebration of Easter, ultimately, when we consider the words of our chosen Song of Ascents tonight, we see an explanation of why we need to go up that is universal and timeless.

The psalmist starts out this way: Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord; Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.[1]

There are a lot of reasons a person could feel low. But this goes deeper than feeling bummed that Canada won silver on Sunday or that it’s still winter outside. The psalmist makes it clear what he’s talking about here: Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.[2]

Mercy is something you need when you’ve done something wrong. And in the next verse, the psalmist confesses that that list is long: If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?[3]

This is what the season of Lent is all about – acknowledging how deep the hole is that we dug for ourselves; taking honest stock of our spiritual condition. And there’s only one conclusion: it’s not good. No, I can’t put it that way tonight, because of all the Psalms we’ll read this year, this is the one that requires the most brutal honesty: If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?[4]

How many sins could you confess if I gave you the next 30 seconds? There are simple ways to diagnose them. I can start with the ways that I’ve failed or even harmed someone else… in my family, at work or school, on the road, at the store, online. I can think about the ways I’ve let myself down… with behaviours that are less than flattering, thought habits I know I shouldn’t indulge. I can think about the ways I’ve rebelled against God… failing to prioritize prayer or private meditation, loving the creation more than the Creator.

It shouldn’t take long to realize how deep the guilt of sin runs. We’re not wading in the shallows. We’re drowning in the depths beyond the help of self-improvement, beyond the hope of digging ourselves out of it, beyond the reach of a handout or a leg up. We need mercy.

And because our God is great, that’s exactly what we get. If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you.[5]

If, meaning, he doesn’t. However long the list of sins you could confess – given 30 seconds or 30 years to compile it – God doesn’t look at it. God doesn’t file it in a cabinet for future reference. He redacts it. He shreds it. He incinerates it. There is not a trace of the record of your sins anymore, because he’s forgiven you. He does not count your sins against you or allow the thought of them to change the way he feels about you. He loves you, and he saves you even from the depths of the guilt and depravity of your own soul, which was beyond the help of anyone else, except for him.

And that changes everything: I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.[6]

The mere prospect of a forgiving, loving God restores the light of hope to our sin-darkened depths. And yet, thankfully, this is much more than the prospect of forgiveness. It’s the promise of forgiveness, which is why the psalmist says: in his word I put my hope. There are times when I am my own worst enemy. There are moments in every Christian’s life, when they can forgive everyone but themselves. This is not that moment, because in this Psalm you have the unequivocal Word of God promising you his undying love for you. You’re not imagining things or distorting reality. This is as clear as black and white, ink on the page.

And that gives me hope that despite myself – despite the fact that I just can’t put the shovel down and I keep digging the hole deeper every day – God will never stop forgiving and redeeming me because no matter how many times I fail, his love never does: Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.[7]

In this Lenten season, as we consider the Songs of Ascents, the first step we take up is out of the depths of sin and guilt and into the comfort and joy of God’s forgiveness. The list of our sins may be long, but by God’s grace it is long gone. And that leaves us lingering in the goodness and love of a God who has redeemed us from all our sin, through the Passion, i.e. the suffering and death of our Saviour Jesus that we commemorate tonight and every Wednesday night throughout this season of Lent.

Until then, call on the Lord for mercy and know that he hears you. Confess your sins to him, and know that he forgives them. Wait for the Lord and put your hope in his Word, for with him is unfailing love and full redemption. Amen.

[1] Psalm 130:1,2

[2] Psalm 130:2

[3] Psalm 130:3

[4] Psalm 130:3

[5] Psalm 130:3,4

[6] Psalm 130:5,6

[7] Psalm 130:7,8

Songs of Going Up: Psalm 121

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

Songs of Going Up: Psalm 130

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.