I TO THE HILLS

 I TO THE HILLS…

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1-2.

I’m sure it was Billy Conolly who once said that Scotland is the only place where people sing about how much they miss the hills and the mountains – even though they can see them if they were to look out their windows!

“Because these green hills

Are not Highland hills

Or the island hills

They’re not my land’s hills…”

Or,

"For these are my mountains

And this is my glen

The braes of my childhood

Will know me again…"

Speaking of hills and mountains, we just read in Psalm 121 these words, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills – From whence comes my help?” Or, as most people know it in its versified form, “I to the hills will lift mine eyes, from whence doth come mine aid?”

Hills! In his younger years, Alan was what they call a “Munro Bagger”. A Munro is any hill in Scotland 3,000 feet or more. 3,000 feet is less than 1,000 metres, 914.4 to be exact. This doesn’t seem that high – until you try to scale it when it is all covered in deep snow!

Alan had a hill to climb, a huge uphill battle with leukemia and everything that goes with it. But, boy! Didn’t Alan put up a great fight? Alan Gordon wasn’t one to lie down and roll over! He bagged one more Munro!

The Psalmist, the bloke who wrote Psalm 121, is not talking about bagging a Munro. He is merely talking about lifting his eyes to the hills. “I to the hills will lift mine eyes.” The idea is not that you look at the hills and start singing about how much you miss them! Rather, it’s about reminding yourself who it was that made them.

I to the hills will lift mine eyes;

From whence doth come mine aid.

My safety cometh from the Lord,

Who heav’n and earth hath made.

We lived in Tasmania for five years. A lot of the mountains and hills reminded me very much of where I grew up in Scotland, the Vale of Leven, “The Vale”. Alan moved to same area, “The Vale”, as a sixteen-year-old. Our local mountain was a Munro. It was Ben Lomond, overlooking the beautiful Loch Lomond.

Ben Lomond, like a sentinel, with its head and shoulders, watched over the Vale of Leven, winter, spring, summer, or fall. Often snow-capped in winter, if you were a kid, it looked like a Christmas pudding with icing on the top of it! Or, the more adult and noble, if you will, bald-headed eagle about to take off to soar over Loch Lomond! Magnificent!

“I to the hills will lift mine eyes, From whence doth come mine aid?” Well, that’s the question, isn’t it? Where do you look for aid? Where do you seek help? At the bottom of an empty whisky bottle? It may help. But only till the hangover sets in. How about family and friends? That’s a bit more like it. But sometimes family members fall out, don’t they? – just as friends can fall out with each other.

The Psalmist is reminding us of a Friend who sticks closer than a brother, yea, even a brother. “My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” The Lord says to those who look to Him for safety, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” Hebrew 13:5b.

Therefore, let us take comfort in the knowledge that the Maker of heaven and earth, the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the One who is rich in grace, mercy, and forgiveness, the One who sent His only begotten Son into this world as a Saviour, the Redeemer, is a present help in times of trouble. Yes, in times of trouble!

On a more personal note. Every Christmas Handel’s “Messiah” gets given another good and worthy run. Do you know what Alan’s favourite song from Handel’s Messiah was? “For unto us a Child is born”? No! “He was despised and rejected of men”? No! “Comfort Ye My People”? No! “The Hellelujah Chorus!”? No! It was, “I know that my Redeemer liveth”. Some of the words of which are,

"I know that my redeemer liveth

And that he shall stand

At the latter day, upon the earth

I know that my redeemer liveth

And though worms destroy this body

Yet in my flesh shall I see God

Shall I see God

I know that my redeemer liveth

For now is Christ risen from the dead

The first fruits of them that sleep."

I loved that Alan loved that song from Handel’s Messiah. Yes, Jesus, the Messiah and Redeemer, also had a hill to climb, Calvary’s Hill. In the poetic words of George Bennard in a well-known hymn,

"On a hill far away, stood an old rugged Cross

The emblem of suff’ring and shame

And I love that old Cross where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I’ll cherish the old rugged Cross

Till my trophies at last I lay down

I will cling to the old rugged Cross

And exchange it some day for a crown."

Lift up your eyes, lift up your eyes above the hills and there you will see Him! And, to remind you, here’re those verses from Psalm 121 again:

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

And one last word, a quote from the well-known Scottish song, that was mentioned earlier,

"For these are my mountains

And this is my glen

The braes of my childhood

Will know me again

No land’s ever claimed me

Tho’ far I did roam

For these are my mountains

And I’m going home."

Alan Gordon is going home…