“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” - Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)
On July 23rd 2021, the world will witness the start of the Summer 2021 Olympics in the city of Tokyo which initially were to be held in 2020 but postponed due to Covid 19. The first Olympics were held in Olympia, Greece, 3000 years ago, in 8 BC and they run up to 4 AD before a lull. In 1894 a visionary French man, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which organized the first modern Games in Athens in 1896.
Over 10,000 athletes are expected to come together to compete in over 400 events where the first, second, and third-place finishers in each event will win the famous Olympic medals: gold, silver, and bronze, respectively. It is the dream of every major athlete to compete in Olympics and come back home with a medal.
One of the worst thing that can happen to an athlete who has been training for years is to slip, just as he is about to make it. There have been indeed many sad moments where great athletes suffered an injury, forestalling all their dreams. Perhaps it would do well for every athlete not just to rely on his might but look to the Lord. Psalm 121:3 says, “He will not let your foot slip” and surely every athlete must wish so.
But it is not athletes who need the cover of God, all of us do in our different trades and walks. Fortunately He has promised, for “he who watches over you will not let you slumber; indeed who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” ( vv 4).
Today, let us lift up our eyes to the Lord, and bask in His cover. “The Lord watches over you- the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm- he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch your coming and going, both now and forever” (vv 5-8).
May His name be praised!
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray that as I lift my eyes to you, you watch my coming and going, and will not let my foot slip, this I pray in Jesus’s name.
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
