The Lord the Keeper of Israel.
A Song of Ascents.
121 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will [a]protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will [b]guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.
This “pilgrim” psalm begins with a familiar passage, or at least I’ve heard it a lot since it is the inspiration of one of my favorite songs. The songwriter looks up to the mountains and asks, “Where does my help come from?” That is, does it come from the mountains? They were seen as a place of safety, of refuge, but they were not his source of help.
Rather, his help came from the Lord, the one who made heaven, earth, and all the mountains. He looked to a higher power, one not of this world. He next emphasizes the infallibility of God, by stating that God never sleeps, He never slumbers, He is always our keeper, day or night. Then, in v. 6, we can certainly relate to the sun “smiting us by day” as we’ve had some warm ones lately, and even worse with fires and smoke.
God will see us through anything the sun brings, but what about the moon? That’s a funny thing to say, not like the moon is beaming down, ready to scorch your skin and blind you with it’s rays. Instead, it is a representation of evil deeds, especially those done at night, under cover of darkness. Yet some would challenge this, I would myself, as bad and difficult things happen to us all.
The key is not that God will keep us in a bubble, void of any ill winds, but that He protects us from evil. I feel as though I’ve heard something along these lines, but at least it has been a recurring theme over the last few years. The storm is not evil, nor are most things God allows into our lives. He uses the storm for our good, and should he protect us from it, we would be weak and powerless to recognize and resist real actual evil.
At any rate, God “will keep your soul.” He will guard you when you go out and about, and when you come home. He will watch over you today, tomorrow, the next day, and forever. Remember, He does not grow weary, or slumber, or sleep. He is always watching out for you, even when you don’t know you need it–especially then. Trust in Him, lean not on your own understanding, or any other thing that seems safe and secure in this world. Take refuge in God, and trust Him with your whole heart, mind, and soul.