Scripture
I look to the hills! Where will I find help? It will come from the Lord, who created heaven and earth.
~Psalm 121:1-2, CEV
Quote
Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer can move God.
~E.M. Bounds
The word translated hills in the CEV and KJV, is translated mountains in the NASB. It is the tiny word har, pronounced hair and it is translated 485 times as Mountains or Mount and only 58 as hills. What shocked me when I visited the Holy Land was Mount Zion. It is not a tall majestic mountain like Hermon. It has no peak. It is a craggy hill and the Mount of Olives which stands beside Zion is much higher. What transformed this craggy hill into the highest mountain? Jesus death at Calvary. Something to think about, but not the point. David said, “I will lift up my eyes.” He is speaking of looking heavenward, like looking up to a majestic mountain peak. Our help is not coming from the mountain itself, but from the LORD who made the mountain. Again, Mount Calvary is the exception: our help does come from the One who died on this mountain.
A couple of encouraging things about this wonderful Psalm, my Mother’s favorite. We look up to God, not down within. If we look in, we will get distressed. If we look out {at the world}, we will get depressed, but if we look up to Christ, we get blessed.
The second blessing is God’s protection. Six times David says, “God is my Protector.” What does this mean? Will God protect us from sickness, accidents, or physical death? No, this is not what it means. We believers are not immune to sickness or death. We are not immune to problems in general. Our protection is from the evil one, from Satan. Our greatest fear is hell or separation from God and for this, we have divine protection. Evil cannot destroy us. It can cause us some misery in this world but it cannot destroy us. Our God is on guard and He never sleeps or takes a break. As Carol says, “He has got this.”
Extra
Great crowd last night at the Revival meeting. We were not packed out but close. I think I counted about 15 empty green chairs. I think we would have needed a half dozen of the white chairs. We had some members come to the front and I appreciate that; we also had some to park out in the gravel, giving the best spots to our guest. We had plenty of food, although I had my doubts. We have one more service and it is at New Center next Sunday night. I am excited to hear Rick preach. Last night was the first time I had heard Spencer other than at funerals. He preached three good sermons. We appreciate our DOM being in attendance last night. Hopefully Buddy is going to get someone on the lighting problem this week. Or north parking lot has no lights.
The holidays are sneaking upon us and Christmas and New Years are on Wednesday which means a lighter Wednesday schedule. We will not met Wednesday night November 27 {Thanksgiving Eve}. We will not met Wednesday night December 25 nor Wednesday night January 1. All Sunday services will remain the same. Our Thanksgiving service {Grace Point} is November 20 and it will be in the fellowship hall. Josh calls it PIE AND PRAISE and I will get with you on starting time. We may do 6:00 instead of 6:30.
My good friend Kevin Beal made a great Gideon presentation yesterday. I was disappointed the offering. I was hoping for twice what we got but I am sure Kevin is tickled with enough to buy 1,000 bibles. Would it be great to have Kevin do the presentation and then Tom Bennich do the offering. That would have been a powerful team.
Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.