Kept by the one who never sleeps.

Psalm 121

1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Psalm 121 is one of the Psalms we will teach children, along with Psalm 23 and Psalm 91, because this Psalm carries the truths that we need to hold on to. It insists us to go to the Lord when we need help, as for sure, our help is in Him.

He is our Father who is our Keeper. He is not a brother who asks, “Am I his keeper?” He is our Brother who protects us all throughout the day, 24/7.

Verse 3 says He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. It was in my college days and my friend Angela was walking with me. We were happily walking and talking. But I stumbled upon a stone and lost balance for a second and went straight to hit a tiny sharp rocky thing that was near us, but I stopped intact, away from hitting the stone. My friend Angela said, it is like an angel holding you suddenly and you stopped. How true the Lord is protecting us. How true when the Bible says He protects our steps and our foot.

The most beautiful thing about the verse 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep is when it says He neither sleeps nor slumbers. I remember an incident about my neighbour, a young lady who wanted the prayers of my parents when she felt like something was bothering her safety. When my mom and dad went, she never allowed sleep to come to her eyes, believing that she was protecting everybody like that. But when my parents prayed over her, she slept like a baby.

Yes, we humans can't protect the people we love by staying awake. But the Lord can do that. He never fails for a minute to keep us safe in His arms. He is our watchful Shepherd who holds us close to His heart.

The verse 5 pushes us one more step closer to Him when it says He is our shade. Our shadow can never leave us. This verse gives us the assurance that, as our Protector on our right side, like a right hand which acts instinctively when an attacker comes against us, the Lord is with us and can never leave us, but stays one with us like a shade.

Though the shade and shadow are different in modern days, they were used to show that the Lord's presence will be with us every minute of the day.

Then the Psalmist says neither moon nor sun will hurt us. The Psalm is a “Song of Ascents,” sung by pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem. Travel in the ancient Near East involved real physical dangers from the extreme climate, so the verse assures God's constant protection day and night.

Simply put, in every season of our life, we are protected by the Lord of the armies.

All of us on earth know that both good and evil exist out there. One of my friends whom I met recently, who is not a believer, said that for sure good and evil exist. And the Bible says, “The Lord shall preserve us from all evil. He shall preserve our soul.” The Lord guarantees protection not only for our bodies but for our souls. What more do we need?

Since this is written for the pilgrimage, it again stresses the Lord's protection for the journey. “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

Thus, the Lord's protection is immediate, ever-present. It is there all through the day, and it extends in every season and forever.

Hey friend, when our mind frets about anything around us, we need to remember that the Lord, the mighty God of armies, is with us. He protects us. He is our Keeper. Nothing will fall apart when He is our Keeper.

Dear God, thank You for being our Keeper. You are our shade, Lord. You are with us through the sun and the moon, Lord. You stand against the evil that comes against us, Lord. You keep our feet steady. You keep our hearts steady. You preserve our mind, body, and soul. Cover us, Lord. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.