August 1, 2025
I look up toward the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth!
May he not allow your foot to slip!
May your protector not sleep!
Look! Israel’s protector does not sleep or slumber!
The Lord is your protector; the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
The sun will not harm you by day, or the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life.
The Lord will protect you in all you do, now and forevermore.
Psalms 121:1-8 NET
Imagine a large gathering of people walking together along a dusty road up a hill overlooking the great city toward a temple that symbolizes the core of their personal and national identity. Everything in their world centers around this sacred temple. As they walk, they sing songs of hope and expectation. They look forward to standing in the holy presence of their God, and in that moment, they remember that their lives are ordered and protected by him. Their pilgrimage to this sacred space is a habitual act of trust and reliance on God, who has delivered them from their troubles and made them his special people, reflecting his image among all nations.
I see the regular practices of communal and individual worship as acts of resistance against the “formless and empty” described in Genesis 1. In that chapter, God created the earth and gave it shape and purpose. His most important act was creating humans in his image. This language is temple-like. In the ancient Near East, images of gods were placed in temples so that followers could come and worship them. However, Yahweh’s “image” is not to be worshipped but is meant to guide worship back to him. How?
Humans are called to continue God’s creative work by cultivating the earth, transforming it into a habitable space where his image-bearing humans can thrive. In their flourishing, they carry on God’s creative work by expanding the earth’s potential and making it a place where God’s good reign is fully realized and experienced. Worshipping this God symbolizes a defiant act against chaos, random chance, and the curse of the “formless and empty,” which seeks to undo the good reign in all God has made.
We carry a sacred calling to be God’s agents of shalom in this world— bringing peace, justice, righteousness, and healing. When we look to Jesus Christ with awe, delight, submission, and worship, we resist the curse of Genesis 3 and declare that he has won victory over it and has transformed us to live holy lives that please him in this world. The LORD, our help and protector, has set us free to be who he made us to be—people of the King, reflecting his image, standing against the curse of sin and death as we worship him.
