Renewing Our Strength #15

Well, it's Friday. Many of you have just about made it through the week.  You are tired; you have just about enough strength to make it one more day.  Then tomorrow you might sleep in, catch up on errands, maybe even do something fun.  Then, if God is lucky, you'll grace Him with your presence on Sunday.  For a moment, I'd like you to imagine you are the Psalmist, going up to Jerusalem to worship - and when I say going up, I mean a steady climb from sea level up a few thousand feet. on foot.  During your journey you have experienced hot at day and cold at night.  Sometimes you are tired of the crowds you need to walk with, while others you are scared, going through steep, dark places, wishing you were not all alone. Then you remember, and begin to sing, 

Psalm 121: I lift up my eyes to the hills.

    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and forevermore.

Rather than feeling like he is pulling the train, trying to get through the week, the psalmist is pulled from ahead, from what is before Him - the presence of the Lord.  He gives him the strength he needs for the journey, as well as safety and comfort.  Notice what has happened here: he has turned from focusing on I and my to The Lord, The Lord, The Lord, The Lord, The Lord - five times, in increasing intensity. He sees that changing our focus from our weariness and wornness to the Lord renews our strength.