WHERE ARE YOU HEADED?

Where Are You Headed?

Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.

Psalm 121:1-2

READ PSALM 121

What determines our direction in life? I once heard an answer to that question in a surprising place: a motorcycle training course. Some friends and I wanted to ride, so we took a class to learn how. Part of our training dealt with something called target fixation.

“Eventually,” our instructor said, “you’re going to face an unexpected obstacle. If you stare at it—if you target fixate—you’ll steer right into it. But if you look above and past it to where you need to go, you can usually avoid it.” Then he added, “Where you’re looking is the direction you’re going to go.”

That simple-but-profound principle applies to our spiritual lives too. When we “target fixate”—focusing on our problems or struggles—we almost automatically orient our lives around them.

However, Scripture encourages us to look past our problems to the One who can help us with them. In Psalm 121:1, we read, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?” The psalm then answers: “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. . . . The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” (vv. 2, 8).

Sometimes our obstacles can seem insurmountable. But God invites us to look to Him to help us see beyond our troubles instead of letting them dominate our perspective.

By Adam Holz

REFLECT & PRAY

Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 124:8

Father, help me not to “target fixate,” but to look to You whenever I face fearful obstacles as I seek to follow You along life’s road.

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INSIGHT

Three times in this short psalm the Lord is referred to as one who “watches” us (vv. 3, 4, 5). This idea is of great comfort to the believer because it presents God as one who is not passive but active in our lives. To “watch over” something is to actively guard and protect it. This idea is underscored by the fact that as our watcher (keeper in the nkjv), God doesn’t sleep or slumber (vv. 3-4), but watches over us day and night (vv. 5-6). J.R. Hudberg