And say, I have lifted my eyes to the mountains from which help shall come to me in such a way that you add to it immediately, My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Therefore let us lift our eyes to the mountains from which help shall come to us. Yet it is not the mountains themselves in which our hope is to be placed, for the mountains receive what they may present to us. Therefore we must put our hope in that place from which the mountains also receive [what they give to us]. When we lift our eyes to the Scriptures, because the Scriptures were delivered through people,^[1] we lift our eyes to the mountains from which help will come to us; and yet since they who wrote the Scriptures were themselves people, they were not providing enlightenment from themselves. Rather, Christ was the true light who enlightens everyone coming into the world.^[2]

However just people may be, however preeminent in grace, however luminous their wisdom, however great the merits that set them on a pinnacle, they are only mountains. Pay attention to the psalm: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from where my help shall come, because there was a man sent by God, whose name was John; this man came to bear witness to the light.^[1] So you have lifted up your eyes to the mountain John, from where your help may come, because he is bearing witness to the light. Continue with the psalm; do not stop on the mountain: My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. That is Christ; all things were made through him.^[2] He is the constructor of the world; he is, you see, the Word of the Father; the Father made all things through the Word.

The Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, God always, man for our sake, having become what he made—I mean, he became man, having made humankind—says to the Father, I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.^[1] You are my Father, Lord of heaven and earth; Father of the one through whom all things were made. The whole of creation, you see, is briefly unfolded in these two words, heaven and earth. That is why it says in the first book of God’s Scriptures, In the beginning, God made heaven and earth^[2]; and also, My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. But by the word heaven is to be understood whatever is in the heavens, and by the word earth whatever is on the earth; so by naming these two parts of creation, you do not leave out a single creature, because it is either here, or it is there.

We attribute to God, as it were, every state that corresponds to our circumstances. For this reason, when we are half asleep and behaving slothfully, God, since he judges us unworthy of his observant watchfulness over us, is said to be asleep. But, when, after noticing at some time the harm that comes from his sleeping, we shall say, Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord?^[1] Behold, he shall neither slumber nor sleep at that time, that keeps Israel. Some others, as it were, turn their eyes away from God because of their shameful deeds and their acts unworthy of the eyes of God. These, on repenting, say, Why do you turn your face away?^[2] Besides these, there are others who have cast out the memory of God and, as it were, are producing in him forgetfulness of themselves, and these say, Why do you forget our want and our trouble?^[3] In a word, people do the very things that are humanly spoken about God, making God behave in ways appropriate to the manner in which they have been made. Therefore, I will extol you, O Lord, for you have upheld me; and you have not made my enemies to rejoice over me.^[4] And I will suffer nothing low or abject in my life.

Not without reason, brothers. For Samaritan is interpreted as guard.^[1] He knew that he was our guard. For he neither slumbers nor sleeps, who guards Israel, and Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain do they who guard watch.^[2] He who is our Creator is our guard. For did it suit him that we be redeemed but not that we be saved?

Regarding the divine nature the prophet David says, Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. But the narrative of the Evangelist describes the Master Christ as sleeping in the boat. Now not sleeping and being asleep are two contrary ideas, so the prophet contradicts the Gospels if, as they argue, the Master Christ was God alone. There is no contradiction, for both prophecies and Gospels flow from one and the same spirit. The Master Christ therefore had a body, akin to all other bodies, affected by the need of sleep. So the argument for the confusion is proved a fable.

Regarding the divine nature the prophet Isaiah said, He shall neither be hungry nor weary and so on.^[1] But the Evangelist says, Jesus, being weary with his journey, sat thus by the well;^[2] and shall not be weary is contrary to being weary. Therefore the prophecy is contrary to the narrative of the Gospels. But they are not contrary, for both are descriptive of one God. Not being weary is proper to the uncircumscribed nature that fills all things. But moving from place to place is proper to the circumscribed nature. When that which moves is constrained to travel, it is subject to the weariness of the wayfarer. Therefore what walked and was weary was a body, for the union did not confound the natures.

May the Lord protect your coming in and your going out. Now look at the coming out of the furnace and the going into it; Reckon it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various trials.^[1] There you are, you have heard about the entrance; now find the exit. It is easy enough to go in; coming out is the big thing. But do not worry: God is faithful—because you have gone in, you are naturally thinking about getting out—God is faithful and does not allow you to be tempted above what you are able to bear, but with the temptation he will also make a way out.^[2] What is the way out? That you may be able to endure.^[3] You have gone in, you have fallen in, you have endured, you have come out.