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TL;DR:
Psalm 121 proclaims that our help comes from the active, attentive Creator who watches over us. In contrast to fatalism, which views life’s events as predetermined or governed by impersonal forces, this devotional calls believers to an engaged, trusting faith. Though we may not understand life’s hardships, we can live confidently, knowing that God is personally involved in human affairs. The closing acrostic on “Fatalism” poetically depicts the bleak inevitability of a fate-driven worldview that Scripture refutes.
What does Psalm 121 mean for us today?
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
A few days after our return to Italy from our first home assignment year, I was in the apartment of an Italian woman. Our conversation turned to spiritual matters over a cup of espresso in her small, high-ceilinged kitchen. She was not a born-again Christian, although her daughter and son-in-law had become Christians 15 years earlier.
"I believe in fate," she suddenly said to me. "Whatever is meant to happen to you will happen."
When I started to protest, she continued, "How else do you explain why a man is hit by a car as he crosses a certain street corner? He could have crossed somewhere else or waited a moment and lived. It's all up to chance or fate."
That can be a difficult perspective to challenge. In fact, in my book, Paul McGrady: Mr. Evangelism, I did not feel competent to explain why an evangelist and professor died in the prime of his life and ministry.
Let it be said, however, that I believe in the psalmist's Holy Spirit-inspired words in Psalm 121:8: "The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."
Life is more than a chain of circumstances beyond our control. Satan too often lulls us into accepting a view of life like the one this woman expressed. Sometimes even we Christ-followers say, "Well, that's the way life is."
But is it only that? Isn't there a Creator who is indeed active on our behalf? Didn't the Holy Spirit inspire the psalmist to write, "The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand" (Psalm 121:5)?
From my limited human perspective, I don't have all the answers to life's difficult questions. I don't know why we are sometimes dealt such hard blows. But I know there is much more at work than mere fate or chance. When we find ourselves sharing this woman's limited awareness of God's presence, we must remember to ask ourselves with the psalmist, "Where does my help come from?" (verse 1).
Help does come from the Lord! That is the psalmist's view of life as expressed in Psalm 121. We can trust the God who never tires of being our Keeper. And we have frequent opportunities to express, both to ourselves and to others, our faith in a God who is actively involved in our lives.
We need not live our lives resigned to fatalism. Our thoughts do not have to be formed by a viewpoint that smacks of obliviousness to God's presence and action.
Let's actively place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Messiah is all that the psalmist pictures Him to be in Psalm 121, and He is even more.
—Howard Culbertson, hculbert@gmail.com
I wrote this devotional blog post while Barbara and I were serving as missionaries in Italy. It is one of a series of 52 brief devotionals published in The Standard, a weekly Faith Connections take-home curriculum piece for adult Sunday school classes produced by The Foundry.
The concepts of fate and fatalism have long fascinated philosophers and writers grappling with the mysteries of existence. Fate embodies the notion that events are beyond human control or influence because they are predetermined and inevitable. Fatalism extends this idea to suggest that, in the end, human actions are futile in light of an unchangeable destiny. "Whatever is going to happen is going to happen," some people say, shrugging their shoulders.
Evangelical Christians reject fatalism. By contrast, they emphasize personal choice, accountability, and God's sovereignty. They believe that while God may have a plan or purpose for individuals and events, people can still make choices and influence outcomes through their actions. They believe that through prayer, obedience to God's Word, and reliance on God's grace, people can understand and fulfill their roles within God's plan for His creation.
"Whatever will be, will be" is a common English phrase expressing the idea that the future is beyond our control and that things will happen as they are meant to, regardless of our efforts. It can convey a sense of fatalism. This phrase became widely known through the 1956 song "Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)," made famous by Doris Day in Alfred Hitchcock's film The Man Who Knew Too Much.
F — Fate determines the path we take,
A — All events are preordained,
T — Time unfolds according to a script,
A — Actions seem powerless to alter the outcome.
L — Life’s course is already set,
I — Inevitable events govern each day,
S — Struggles cannot change what must be,
M — Mortals bow to an unalterable fate.
The word "faith" as an acrostic
Like acrostics? Here are more of them
