Psalm 121 (June, 1930, #17)       

It was composed as a hymn by John Wyeth (1770-1858) that has been loved by many Christians. It makes us deeply remember that David Livingston, a famous explorer of the Dark Continent Africa and an evangelist to the black, read it with his family, in the morning of December 7th, 1840, right before he was leaving to Africa for the first trip. This short psalm of eight verses was the power of resuscitation and the source of hope for him, when he poisoned by Tsetse flies, thrown off from a lion's jaw, trapped in a jungle, fasting in hunger and thirst during his exploration in Africa three or four times until rested by the Lake Bangweulu, praying for the future of Africa and the black till his last breath. Now we are sending off the soul of Lee Seung-hoon, who was born in Korean peninsula where it is darker than African jungle, more desolate than the Sahara Desert, more brutal than a lion, more annoying than Tsetse flies, leaving a will to donate his body to medical research for loving people; I want to read Psalm 121 again with Livingston, and we want to re-examine its meaning of genuine verses with other readers.

1. I lift up my eyes to the hills- 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.

This poem is so simple and easy that any reader can easily understand the gist of it; especially, when one sings it as a hymn song, the poet's trust like that of an innocent child touches our heart, pressing heavily. Let me explain several verses to help you to chant aloud.

In verse 1, certain scholars claim that 'lift up my eyes to the hills' refers looking up the walls of Jerusalem at a distance on the way up there during the big festival season; others think one is looking at the mountain ranges in his visual field, in sad thoughts longing for his motherland in a foreign country, just like Daniel who prayed three times a day, facing Jerusalem through an opened window of the second floor when he exiled in Babylon; or, others think it indicates the Holy mountain or the Mountain Zion where Lord's throne is; likewise, there are several theories about it, but lay believers like us do not have to choose any one of them, but usually God manifests himself on the top of a mountain; like the mythology of Dan-goon in Korea and the ancient history of Japan, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on the top of the Mountain Sinai. So a man discouraged and disheartened naturally look up to hills. The gist of this poem will be clearer when we understand that the writer tasted the bitter drink of miserable defeat while fighting with the world externally and with self internally in the bitter world, and fell down in despair in the end.

'Where does my help come from?' A jeering voice is heard by the believer who was defeated externally and is weak internally, "Where is God whom you trust?" A sound piercing through the bone! Despair! It is an absolute despair that only a believer can taste of it. He is disappointed in himself; he does not have any more strength left to seek something; friends and relatives make the bitterness of disillusionment more serious; the emptiness of his heart cannot be filled with the full breath of the earth and the universe, because he is seeking only one God, the Creator of all things.

In verse 2, 'My help come from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." This one verse is sufficient to wipe his tears and revive himself; this verse is strength, comfort, and amen for the whole situations. Why? It is because help should come only from the omnipotent Maker of heaven and earth, and it will come. Generally speaking, even after one's despair vanished away and shed tears of hope, when we guess the vastness of the universe that God created and think about that we are trifle creatures of less than six feet tall, one of 1.6 billion of us living on the earth, we sometimes worry that we might not be worthy of winning favor from omnipotent God.

But, the gist of verses 3 and 4 is that God does not slumber or sleep to watch over us believers so that not even one of two sparrows sold for a penny will fall to the ground apart from the will of God. Verse 5 repeats that Got watches over us. It is the pearl in comparison with other 150 psalms as a poetic form of simple faith.

In verse 5, 'at your right hand' indicates that customarily a protector or a lawyer stands at right hand, and 'your shade' means the shade of trees in hot weather, which is used as the synonym of the protector.

In verse 6, 'the sun will not harm you' refers to heatstroke; 'the moon….' is related to a superstition that the full moon could cause a leprosy or malaria.

In verse 7, some translations, (for example Korean and Oxford, Cambridge), added 'soul' to 'you' to read: "he will guard you, body and soul", to emphasize 'soul'.

In verse 8, God will watch over your coming and going, not just 'now' but 'forevermore'.

If you seek for happiness in this world, you may not want to be a Christian; According to Dante's Inferno, non-believers may not have great joy, but they do not have the sorrow of absolute despair either. Therefore, you who fell to the valley of despair shall go up to the summit of hope. When you look down, can you find any hope in doubling movement, agricultural business, the aged, the youth, education, social movement, China, or Russia? But, look up the hills and the Cross; though it is difficult to believe, we do trust, "Lord who neither slumber nor sleep will watch over us." Some often mentioned about the works of the Holy Spirit for Korea in the past; even today, I have seen some who live or die while Lord is watching over them. One person who lives with hope in Korea proves that Lord is watching over whole Korea; so I, know that I, even a lowly and meager one, am also being watched over by Lord. Brethrens! Let us remember that the people of our nation are being watched over by our Lord, too.

(Message: This is one of a dozen hymn songs I do memorize by heart, and I do sing it often, especially when all my wisdom and knowledge run dry to solve my problem I am facing with. By remembering Lord's promise, I get ample comfort and encouragement that is most helpful to go through life journey in this world.)