The Biblical Illustrator
Psalms 124:8
Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
The best helper
I. God is everywhere present. Sometimes those who would help us are afar off. Not so God; He is “a very present help in trouble” (Psalms 46:1).
II. He has everything we want ready at command. Is it money, grace, friends, comfort, guidance, strength? He has of these things more than we can possibly need.
III. He is a very willing helper. He invites us to call upon Him in the day of trouble (Psalms 50:15).
IV. He is a loving and tender helper. His kindness is often called “lovingkindness” (Deuteronomy 33:27).
V. He never fails to help his people.
VI. He is an everlasting helper (Psalms 90:12). (R. Brewin.)
The Church’s confidence
The confidence here expressed by the Church is founded upon two things.
I. Past deliverance. “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” When placed in perilous circumstances, one’s faith is much increased by thinking upon the times of old, and musing upon the years of the right hand of the Most High. We learn there that affliction is no strange thing, and that God can afford us all requisite aid. He has done so before, and He can do so again. As to Himself, He is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” As to His agents, there is no diminution in their number, or decrease in their power.
II. The Divine omnipotence. He who defends the Church is the Creator of the universe. Yes! He who hung those stars in heaven, and filled their lamps with everlasting oil: He who made the earth, with its golden corn, and its purple grapes, and its dark olives. My Father made them all; and a single look at the green earth, and the swelling ocean, and the burning stars, is enough to rebuke our distrust, and to infuse a serene gladness into our troubled spirits. Would that we had more of this holy confidence; and how much of the peace and joy of heaven would be ours, even when travelling through the wilderness to the land that is afar off. (N. McMichael.).