About the Photo - Agua Volcano, Antigua Guatemala

This cloud shrouded magnificence can be seen from just about anywhere in central Guatemala. It and its sisters, Fuego and Acatenango, dominate the skyline everywhere. Fuego and Acatenango are active volcanoes with ash plumes regularly rising from their peaks and lava visible in the darkness of night. Being in the proximity of volcanoes, especially active ones, is a little - ok, a lot - unsettling! Thankfully they all behaved during our brief visit. This particular photo of Agua was taken from the central market place on the day we visited beautiful Antigua.

The scripture I had posted with this photo is one that is often associated with mountains but is usually terribly misinterpreted. I have Eugene Peterson to thank for peeling back the crust of time and helping me to understand this from the perspective of the one who wrote it.

Psalm 121:1-2 reads "I lift up my eyes to the hills-where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."

Most often this verse is associated with just this sort of photo, an imposing and enduring mountain. Our culture equates mountains with strength, majesty, and endurance and therefore the natural understanding for us is that in looking to the mountains we see an image of the strong, majestic and enduring God who helps us. That is a nice image but it is dead wrong when it comes to what is being declared in this marvelous Psalm.

Psalm 121 is one of the Psalms of Ascent that would be sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to worship. Undoubtedly one of the sights along the way were the many mountains that surround Jerusalem. Though those mountains and hills may have possessed an intrinsic beauty that is not what would have caught the eye and attention of the pilgrim on their way to worship the one true God. The pilgrim would have seen smoke rising from those mountaintops in worship of many other gods. It is as if this song is asking "Which god is going to help me?"

I can see that pilgrim on their way to worship the one true God looking around at all these other gods and asking, "Is Baal going to help me?" "How about Ashtoreth?" "Molech?" "Chemosh?" "Dagon?" And the answer was "No. No. No. And no." The only help, the only reliable help, the only sure help would come from the LORD.

An interesting, and often overlooked, practice of English translations is the use of the word LORD in all capitals to represent the personal, revealed name of God. Anytime you see this used in scripture the point is being made that its not just any god that is being discussed but this particular God. This specifically named God. This God with a known and revealed character. It is this particular God that the song was, and is, referring to as sojourners make their way to worship.

This holds tremendous truth for us today as we face a world fraught with uncertainty and danger. Just where will our help come from?

Will it be from the recently de-thoned "masters of the universe" who ruled Wall Street?
I don't think so.

Will it be from Barack Obama's promises of hope?
I don't think so.

Will it be from T. Boone Pickens or Sarah Palin with their promises of energy independence?
I don't think so.

Will it be from the bail-out brokers on Capital Hill?
I don't think so.

This list could go on and on and the answer would be the same. There is only one source of genuine hope. Perhaps it's time we lifted our eyes a little higher to see the one that is more powerful, more enduring, more majestic and more reliable than the mountains.

"I lift my eyes to the hills - from where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."

Here's to looking up!