The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 169

Yers. 1, 2.-Looking up. "Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? Whence should my help come?" The precise associations of the psalm cannot be fixed with any certainty. Perhaps it is best regarded as a psalm of the Exile. It mi"'ht havo been wri_tten by a Daniel, as he Mt at his open window, and looked away over"the broad, flat pl~ms of Babylon toward the distant mountain-land of Israel. The writer is oppressed w1~h the burdens and sorrows of exile; he remembers Zion, and he 8ings his soul to quietness and peace by looking away from present cares to tho high hills of God, and cheers bis drooping spirit by remembering how, aruid all the earth-changes, the ever- lasting hills abide. What a holy power upon us the mountains have I 'l'he grand, calm, strong, high things-they seom to be so near God; they seem to be so full of God; they bring us so near him, and fill us so full of him. One thin"' about them is suggested by our text-they make us look up. And is not that just°what we need? Oh, to lose the downward look which has f.O grown upon us by the pressure of life- cares ! 'l'he voice calls continually, "Lift up your beads, for your redemption draweth nigh!" I. WORLD-DRAWN, WE LOOK DOWN, A.ND BO ABE WEAK, We are in the world-in a thousand subtle ways we are kin with the world, subject to its influences, cauaht by its whirl of excitement, absorbed by its pressing claims, and easily we become~/ the world as well as in it. But everything the world presents to us is below us, beneath us; and it so keeps us looking down that the habit of down-looking grows upon us, and we are almost unable to look up. How powerfully we are all drawn by world- interests I Business man is world-absorbed. Domestic woman is world-absorbed. 'l'he influence of the world beget.s a downward look, a sort of set of the eyes and heart dow:nwards. 'l'be world-thoughts abide with us, and even when the sabbath day b1ings God and heaven near, we find it very hard to get our eyes lifted up, Even in the sanctuary they drop on bills and stock and trade. To succeed in earthly things we must engage the whole heart and powers in them. It seems to be the one universal power that this sin-smitten world possesses over its creatures-it bends their shoulders, it bows their heads, it gives, it keeps, the downward look. And what do we see when we look down? Much of self, of man, and of things. 'l'he hurry and bustle of thousands who are ha.sting to be rich. And the shadow of God's curse on sin resting everywhere. It is this down-looking that makes us so weak. IL GoD-DBA WN, WE LOOK UP, AND so GROW STRONG. For to men in this world God's voice is ever calling. It sounds from the bright bands of the morning, from the high silver-tinted clouds of noonday, from the splendour and glory of the far-off sunset, from the lofty trees and the hill-tops, and the soaring birds of song, and the winds that roam free, and the "jewel-powdered skies" of night. Would we but at.op and hush awhile, we might hear it always near us, saying, "Look up I look up I" God hns often refreshed his fainting servants with the sight of bis everlasting hills. Moses was sent to feel the inspirations of Sinai. Elijah was calmed, and made himself again, by the soothing influences of Horeb, the mount of God. Our Lord sought seclusion amon"' the hills of Eastern Galilee, and entered into the Divine glory on a spur of Herm~n. And the mountains· still soothe and calm God's people. They teach us to loolc ttp. 1. Looking up, you find nothin~ of man•~-it is all of ~o~ up above •. 2. Looking up, you feel how pure God's snow 1s, and thmk how much is m tho pronuse, "'!'hey shall walk with me in white." 3. Looking up, :v:ou see how ~arth•cl?uds are glorified. 4. Looking up, listen; you· may hear the voices of the hills saymg, "Be still! Hush the life-fever! Wait( In silence God doth spenk." 6. Look up aad listen, and again the voices of the hills will say, "The mists and the stor1:11s are all outside us· they are not us." Look up, and grow strong. Look up; you will feel the heaven-br~th upon your faco. Look up; your brow will soon lose those wreathings of anxiety anJ care. Look up, and you shall prove how God" wipes away nil tears from our eyes."-R. T. Vera. l, 2.-Not mountains, but God. "From whenco shall my help come?" This p11alm is best taken as expressing the pious confidence of an individual believer, who PB, OXXI, 1-8,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 189