I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made the heaven and earth.

Psalm121:1-2, KJV

 

While there can be no question that we live in unsettled times, we should not permit these uncertainties to cause us to lose our focus. Life has always had its ups and downs, and it is likely that this is one of those genuinely hard periods that come up from time to time. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and pretend that our problems will just go away because there are too many innocent people who will suffer if we do.

 

On the other hand, it does no good at all to be be a pessimist. Pessimists have a habit of blaming all of life's woes on others and then expecting them to take care of it. Pessimists also have a habit of murmuring and complaining about everything, and we know how well that worked out for God's chosen people when they left Egyptian captivity - they had to wander in a wilderness for forty years of suffering, and then they died.

 

But what can we do? We have leaders who are clearly enamored with wicked behavior. When presented with the choice between uniting the people to work together to cure society's problems or dividing the people so that they will create even more problems, they choose division over unity every time. We have a perversion that has just seemed to blanket our world in which morally deviant persons are given priority over our innocent children. The drug problem has become so rampant that large cities are being taken over with what appears to be more of a scene from some horror movie, than the pleasant and thriving places they once were.

 

So, what is the solution? The prophet Micah told us nearly 2,500 years ago, He said that God has shown us what is good, and what He requires: To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). The writer of the 121st Psalm also gave us the understanding that when times are too difficult for us to handle on our own, that God Himself would be our help. We have always had difficult times in this world, for human nature will never change. Some will seek God, and some will not. Those who don't will always be a problem to those who do seek Him. 

 

Our part, then, is to not lose focus. God still expects us to try and help the wicked towards repentance, while at the same time protecting the innocent. When the wicked refuse to stop harming the innocent, then we have to do something to stop them. On our own this problem would be too much for us to handle, but we are not on our own. We just have to lift our eyes up and see that God is there to handle everything that we cannot. 

 

God does not expect you and I to solve all of the world's problems, but He does expect us to do our part. That part will require wisdom because doling out justice while at the same time being merciful is tricky. But if we will do our best to find out how He expects us to live and then do it, then He will take care of everything else. We do live in difficult times. They are more difficult than anything I have seen in my sixty plus years on this earth. Alone, we are just not going to be able to handle these challenges. But, if we do not lose focus and will keep our eyes on the Lord, we are going to be okay. In fact we will be more than just "okay", for heaven awaits us at the end of these difficult times if we will just not lose our faithfulness and if we will continue to keep our focus on the only One who can really help.

Thy word is very pure, therefore Thy servant loveth it.

Psalm 119:140, KJV

 

Do you know the story of Booker T. Washington? He was born into slavery sometime between 1856 and 1858. When the Civil War started, he was listed on his owner's inventory as property valued at $400. When the Civil War ended, his mother and he moved to West Virginia, where she remarried and he went to work in the salt furnaces and coal mines. After work, nine year old Booker (he may have just been seven, he said they never really knew for sure) went to school.

 

He said going to school was like a dream. It was as close to heaven as he could imagine. Sitting there with other boys and girls, former slaves all, at their own desks and getting to learn. It was a love he never lost, for when he completed his education in 1871, he wanted more. He heard of a school in Virginia called Hampton Institute. It took three weeks walking to get there, but get there he did. The woman principal who interviewed him was not completely satisfied, so she took him to a room and said, "clean it." When she came back with her white gloves for an inspection, the room was spotless - not a speck of dust! Booker was officially accepted into Hampton.

 

After three years of hard study and working as a janitor for room and board, Booker T. Washington graduated with honors. He went back home and taught for a while, putting his brothers through school, but he still longed for something else. He got that chance in 1881, when two unlikely partners (a former slave owner and a former slave) came to the President of Hampton with a determination to start a school of upper learning for black men and women in the heart of the south - Tuskegee, Alabama. Booker T. was recommended for the job.

 

When Booker arrived at Tuskegee, he found 100 acres of pine trees, a small cabin and a one room church. It was enough. Over the years the Tuskegee Institute grew to around 100 buildings, many of brick construction, built by the students with bricks handmade by the students. I came across an account of one such student who was said to be complaining that he didn't come to Tuskegee to earn how to lay bricks. When overheard by Booker T. Washington, the president of the Institute had this question: "I suppose you would rather be learning Greek. Tell me young man, how many people speak Greek where you are from?" The young man replied none of course, to which Booker then asked how many needed good housing. The young man let him know it was a great need, indeed. Then he thought about it and said, "I understand."

 

You see, Booker T. Washington, a man who saw the need and provided the training in English, math and science, also had a vision of sending these men and women home with an ability to provide for themselves and others. He saw this type of education as vital to preparing the black men and women under his teaching to be able to live and assimilate in an environment that was completely new to them. He knew that a nation was being re-built, and that they needed to have a part in that building.

 

His vision was contagious, and men like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and the railroad tycoon, William Baldwin, all contributed heavily to the Tuskegee Institute. They did so because they not only believed in the vision, but they also believed in the man. There were many people, black and white, who opposed his efforts, but that mattered little to Booker T. Washington. He had a mission on earth to prepare the men and women of his race to live in a world dominated to this point by another race entirely. And the only way they could do that, in his mind, was to be educated, prepared and willing to work.

 

As with all men and women of great accomplishment, there is nearly always a strong relationship with God. With Booker T. this was especially true, and he revealed this relationship in his autobiography. At Hampton, he was introduced to a love for reading God's Word. He attended Wayland Seminary in Washington D.C. before taking the job at Tuskegee. He described the nature of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in a speech he gave in 1900 in this manner: 

 

"The school is strictly undenominational, but is thoroughly Christian, and the spiritual training for the student is not neglected. Our preaching service, prayer meetings, Sunday School, Christian Endeavor Society, Young Men's Christian Association and missionary organizations testify to this." He also said this on another occasion, "I learned to love to read the Bible. I always make it a habit to read a chapter or portion of a chapter in the morning, before beginning the work day." And then he said this: "The men doing the vital things of life are those who read the Bible and are Christians and who are not ashamed to let the world know it."

 

The memory of Booker T. Washington is held in honor today. It is interesting to me to find out that the foundation for his success was his Christian faith and his love for the Word. But that should not surprise any of us, for the truly great men and women of history have shared that same love for God and His Word since time immemorial. How about you?  

 

Thou art my hiding place and my shield; 

I hope in Thy word.

Psalm 119:114, KJV

 

There are times when it seems like things are falling apart. As of this day in February of 2024, there are wars around the globe. There are stories popping up in the news about newer and deadlier strains of human-engineered diseases. In our nation it is an election year and  people seem to be only concerned with how bad the other side is. Evil people are shooting one another in the streets and in their houses, and some people's only remedy seems to be to take away the defenses of the innocent. Leave it to the proper law enforcement agencies, they will say, but they don't seem to have a good solution when it is pointed out that our law enforcement folks already have too much on their hands to handle now.

 

We have one side fighting to open wide our borders, and another working hard to close them. The rest of us watch in amazement as the problems of drugs and crime test our nation's resources to the breaking point. This absurdity can be compared to the ridiculous situation of two fire departments being called to the same house where a small fire is burning in the garage. But instead of taking care of the fire, they fight to see which one will get credit for putting it out. And while they fight, the fire spreads, first to the house, then to the rest of the neighborhood.

 

We have people flying all over the world in private jets, meeting together to tell us how bad our use of our fossil fuels is. They have fancy meals with expensive wines, and wear custom tailored suits and designer dresses. They meet to determine how they can tell others how much they must sacrifice to save the planet. 

 

At this very moment, our elected leaders work very, very hard to divide the people they claim they are there to serve. Phillip of Macedon determined 2,000 years ago that the best road to power was to divide and conquer the masses, and our modern day leaders are perfecting this insane strategy. Meanwhile the people are divided. They think the enemy is the people on the other side and are tricked into giving the power hungry leaders on their side more power. 

 

I know, I know - thanks for the pep talk, you are probably thinking. but what can we do? There is a solution, but most people will not like it. Most people didn't like it at the time prior to the flood. Most people did not like the solution proposed by God prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Most people didn't like the remedy in the years leading up to the fall of Israel and Judah. But it doesn't change the truth one bit.

 

The truth is that the only solution to the consequence of sin is to stop sinning! Such repentance is never easy, and is therefore usually rejected. But repentance has always been the quickest and most painless cure for what ails sinful people, and we have become a very sinful people. The repentance must start with the individual, so look to your own life and take care of what you must. Then you will have the right to ask God to help the rest of the world see the need for repentance. It seems too simplistic, but it is the only solution. It is the solution that requires God's help, so be sure to ask Him for that help.

 

And in the meantime, don't give up hope, for our place of safety and our protection has always come from one source: Our loving and righteous Father! Why not allow Him to be your hiding place and shield today? 

 

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

Blessed are they that keep His testimonies,

and that seek Him with a whole heart.

Psalm 119:1-2, KJV

 

Thus begins one of the most incredible chapters in one of the most beautiful books in all of Scripture. For 176 verses, the inspired writer addresses any blessing that you could imagine that comes to the one who loves the law of the LORD. We live in an era in which so many men use and change laws to their own whims that I sometimes think we fail to see the tremendous gift that God has bestowed upon His creation with His holy precepts. It is only when we really "dig in" to the Word that we begin to see how truly honored we are to have such a treasure placed within our hands.

 

God's way is so perfect that it moved Moses to ask the rhetorical question, "What other nation is so great as to have such a law given to them?" His truths are so pure that it caused Jesus to point out that they would free all who knew them. In a world filled with such wickedness, God's Word is like a hidden key which, if only used, will set the prisoner free from the worst of fates stemming from his captivity.

 

Can it be any wonder that the inspired writer of this Psalm talks of his love and adoration of the way of God? He talks about how it makes him wiser than his enemies and teachers alike. It tells how he longs God's instruction so much that he rises through the watches of the night, just to give the LORD thanks for this perfect way. This writer is so desirous of God's perfect instruction that he can only compare himself to one who "opens his mouth and pants". And whether this anonymous writer is King David or a mere servant of God, his message is still as compelling. He longs for God's counsel so much that he can do nothing more than give it his absolute attention.

 

The question for us is "can we see it?" Do we grasp what this writer so completely understood? The Word of God was so important to him that he realized that his very life depended on knowing it. And no wonder, for we are told over and over within the New Testament that this Word was nothing less than the "Good News". And while this word, "Gospel", clearly refers to the good news of Jesus our Savior, it is no less accurate a description of what the entire Word of God is to a world that would be lost without it.

 

If it has been a while since you have enjoyed the 119th Psalm, I would encourage you to read it now. It will require about ten minutes of your day to read it, but more than a lifetime to appreciate it's truths. It has the power to lift you up from your lowest points of life. It has the ability to give you better instruction than you could obtain from a four year degree from the best college. It has the potential to change your entire life, if you will let it. For once you have truly and deeply read from this 119th Psalm, it will give you a hunger and thirst for all the rest of God's righteous Word.

 

Why not read this Psalm today? You will be glad that you did!