Articles
The Evangelism of Psalm 121
One thing that brings concern for many when looking to introduce the gospel or continue teaching the gospel to someone is how to go about it. There are many exam-ples that we can look at in the Scriptures and learn from in how we teach others. There are numerous examples of Jesus and how He taught people, There are examples of the Apostles teaching. There is an excel-lent example found in Acts 8, where we see a one on one situation between Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. There are more groups setting scenarios that we can see like Peter in Acts 2,3,4, 10. There are other examples as well in the book of Acts, like Stephen, Paul and more. It is worth study-ing these examples. Studying how they ap-proached the situation, how bold they were in speaking, what they spoke about, and more.
Another great way to evangelize is found in a place in Scripture that isn’t necessarily talking about sharing God’s word with someone else. In Psalm 121, we see two different focuses. I’d encourage you to have your Bible out and follow along in the Psalm as we examine what it says and how we can take what is says and use it to teach others the good news of our glorious Lord and Savior. The Psalm begins with the writer saying that he raises his eyes to the moun-tains and asks where does his help come from. He answers that question in verse 2 by saying his help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. That’s answer that you hopefully share with this physical author, but if you don’t share that answer quite yet, the rest of this Psalm (which we’ll get into in the next para-graph) should give you a more of an urge to share in that answer. The main focus of these first two verses is from the author’s per-spective of God. That God is the one who created the heavens and the earth. Created the mountains that are mentioned in verse 1. He is the One who commands the morning and makes the dawn know it’s place as seen in Job 38:12. That God, the only God, is the author’s help. The same God who made all these great things and has been present and active in every event in the Bible and follow-ing it, helps the author. What joy there is in that statement. How humbling it is as well! Hopefully we can relate to what the author says in these first two verses. That God is our help and the One we rely on. If we can say that, then we can take the evangelistic ap-proach of the rest of this Psalm.
In verses 3-8, the word you or your is used a total of 9 times (At least in the NASB). There is clearly an emphasis there and provides a great point in how we share the good news of our God with oth-er people. We are able to tell others about the help our God is, as we’ve covered in verses 1 and 2. We can tell about how He helped us when we were helpless, stuck in our sin (Romans 5:6-10). We can tell others about how He has answered prayers that we have prayed. Tell them of the power of prayer. Talk about Elijah who was a human just like you and me, but by his prayers and them being answered by God, caused the earth to stop raining for 3 years and 6 months and then another prayer led to rain being poured on the earth again (James 5:16-18). Tell others about how when we are going through temptation, we can take comfort in the fact that we know Jesus was tempted by all things and didn’t sin (Hebrews 4:15) and that when we submit to Him, the devil flees from us (James 4:7). There are many more options to share, but the point is to follow the example of Psalm 121:1-2, in telling others that God is our help and look what He has done for me. Then, we reach verses 3-8 where we can share what God can do for the per-son or people we are speaking with. That our God won’t allow their foot to slip (v3), He watches of them as they sleep and He doesn’t ever sleep (v3-4), that our God can be their Protector, Shade on their right hand, and the Keeper of their soul (v5-7). That our God can be their Guard wherever they may go (v8). We can show others that our God is so great for us, and that His greatness isn’t exclusive to us. It's not that we are of the chosen few who are able to be fol-lowers of God, or we have a great knowledge that they can never obtain. We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God as Romans 3:23 says. Ephesians 2:3, says we all previously lived in the lusts of the flesh and were by nature children of wrath just as the rest. As Ephesians 2:4 starts out though, but God. Because of our great God, we are able to call Him our Help. We are no longer help-less because of Him. I can rely on Him in any and every situation from the best days of my life to the days where I feel like I’m walk-ing through the valley of the shadow of death. And as we speak to other people, we can share that we were separate from God and we couldn’t truthfully say He is our help, but by His grace and mer-cy, we can now say that, and they can too. How powerful it is to talk about how great God is in the lives of those in the Bible, the lives of people we know, and in our own lives. To share the greatness of God and let it be known that it isn’t something exclusive to a select few, but that God wants to be the help for all people. What a com-forting and powerful message, and a great reminder for those in Christ, to know God is our help and we want to share that help with others! -
