Kept Safe

If you missed us last week, I invited everyone to join in as we begin a new journey together. We are leaning into the idea of becoming pilgrims. Pilgrims who are determined to move closer to the Lord, specifically in how we aim to worship Him.

Last week we talked about the book of Psalms, how from generation to generation the psalms have been the prayer language of God’s people. The practice of God’s people throughout history has been to sing, pray, and read through the Psalms. The Psalms are poetic in nature and as we learn this poetic language, we will come to the throne of God with new language, new images that teach us about that nature of God.

So last week we started our pilgrimage through Psalms 120-134, these are traditionally known as the Psalms of Ascent. What we considered last week boils down to this question, “What does it mean to be a pilgrim?”

What it really means is that we have to pursue God. That this christian walk is more than a casual engagement. The Christian life is determined to engage the Lord in worship. But worship is more than singing, its more than reading the bible, its more than prayer. Fuller understanding of worship would be to understand that its the totality of my life. Everything I do, everything I think, every way I respond to this world is a reflection of how I worship God.

What we find is that true worship is a life in utter surrender to the Lord.

Today, we are studying Psalm 121, you can turn there if you have your Bibles.

Lets Pray

I want to start this morning by considering a reality that we all know. Every journey has some inherent risk. Weather it is a road trip across the country, traveling overseas, or even camping in the woods. Every journey has some form of inherent risk.

Have you ever gone on a long trek through the mountains?

The longer the trip the more weary we grow. I don’t know about you but I have certainly found myself on hikes through the woods where I have been walking for some time, my feet are getting soar, my mental fortitude fades.

And then, I find myself at the bottom a very large hill that I have to climb and I think, “How will I ever find the energy to make it?”

Its a similar question to our what our author is asking, but I think his question is better. He says:

Psalm 121:1 “1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?”

He has been on his journey for some time; he is tired, growing weaker by the minute. In his weariness, he approaches the mountains that lead into Jerusalem. He knows he is getting closer to he finish line but now the most difficult part of the journey begins. As he looks up, he recognizes the danger ahead of him, he recognizes his need for help.

Slide: But this picture is not to represent our physical fatigue. This question is heavy, one coming from the depths of his soul.

You see, when you travel on a trekking journey, where you are walking, you have no music, no phone, no distractions. You find that you have a lot of time to think, to reflect. When we get that type of alone time, many of us will go to deeper places of thought. where our questions become a little more existential.

When he asks, “where does my help come from?” He is considering the totality of life.

In my emotional pain, where does my help come from?

In my physical need, for healing, food, clothing, housing, where does my help come from?

In my morality, in my wickedness, in my fallenness, where I have gone astray again and again, where does my help come from???????

These deeper questions can leave us feeling uncomfortable. Especially, if we are unsure about what happens after death.

But as believers, we can look back and see the very hand of God on our lives

The author of this Psalm looks back, sees struggle and hardship..... As he looks at the mountains ahead, he see’s more struggle, more hardship to come.

Yet, in his time of reflection, he is reminded of the ways the Lord has been faithful to Him. Seeing the Lord’s hand again and again protecting him throughout his journey, he is able to confidently say this in verse 2.

Psalm 121:2 “2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

He has seen the hand of the Lord. Time and time again, the Lord has revealed his protection, has shown His faithfulness, and has helped this man throughout his life.

So when the challenging questions come, he is ready to answer. He is ready to say,

“I know exactly where my help comes from. I know exactly who will help me. I don’t know how He will do it, I don’t know when He will do it, but I know that the Lord has helped me and He will continue to help me.”

In asking a good, hard question, he dwells on it and gives a good answer. Not one that He believes is true, but has personally witnessed in his own life.

You see, the more we grow in our faith relationship with Jesus, the longer we walk alongside Him.... the more we realize how many times He has protected us. We reflect on our lives and see that there were so many variables in life are outside of our control. Either we are really lucky people or there truly is a God watching over us.

We look back that we see, ahhhhh,

The Lord held me hear, He encouraged me there, He brought a word of wisdom to me through a friend when I didn’t know what to do.

It’s why your testimony is so important. it reminds you that everything good comes from the Lord and we learn to trust that He will provide.

The Lord is our helper, and we can depend on Him.

It’s not always easy to rely on someone else. We don’t like feeling dependent or uncertain about when and how God will answer. This leads us to overthinking, planning and even scheming.

Eventually, we reach a crossroads where we must decide whether to trust the Lord and be dependent on Him or try to control ourselves, attempting to achieve the desired outcomes I want.

As believers, we are called to surrender more and more. To become more dependent as we grow. This is not a decision we make once or twice. The Holy Spirit brings it back to us again and again.

The beauty of this Psalm is the author understands this choice. He knows that taking control might work temporarily, but it often leads to complications and strained relationships. He recognizes that he must stop pretending to be in control and simply trust God as his helper, because without God..... we can’t make a real difference anyway.

It’s when we rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, embracing true dependence on God.... Then we can move forward in confident freedom.

The author has learned the importance of worship. The importance of communing with The almighty God. He now understands that his very existence is held by the Lord.

Look at what He says in verses 3-8:

Psalm 121:3–8 “3 He will not let your foot be moved; 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 shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

This is a beautiful reminder. As believers, we never walk alone. We are never left to our own strength, our own cunning, or our own ability. We are able to walk with confidence, dependent on the Lord as our helper and our keeper that He will bring about His purposes, in His timing.

So we sing, we read, we pray - we aim to lift the name of the Lord however we can. first, because He is worthy. Second, because we know that when we lean in through the power of the Holy Spirit, God will have His way; which is the best way for us to go.

Because our author oriented around the Lord, he now has the confidence to press on, knowing that the Lord goes with him. Almost like a repeated melody in his head, “The Lord with keep you, the Lord will guard you, the Lord will protect you.”

Six times in this passage, he refers to the Lord as his keeper. The Hebrew word being used is “Shamar.” The word means more than to be kept. It means to watch-over, to guard, and to protect. The root idea behind the word is “to diligently exercise great care over.”

Are you aware that God, the creator of the heavens and earth, the all wise, all powerful, all holy God diligently exercises great protection over you. That He is watching with great attentiveness to everything you are facing. That He is guarding you from lurking dangers you cant even imagine.

The Lord keeps you and holds you.

How we respond to the Lord with Smr......

Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian Christian minister who lived under the Communist Regime of Romania. This was significant because the Romanian Regime was aiming to eradicate religion. Believers had to move their gatherings, their worship, their study to secret meetings.

In 1948 Richard was arrested for his involvement in underground Church. He spent 14 years in prison. During his imprisonment, he was beaten, starved, and subjected to psychological torment. At one point he was held for three years in solitary confinement in a room placed underground so that there is little light or sound of any kind.

Despite these extreme conditions, Richard found ways to connect with the Lord and draw strength from his faith.

One specific way he felt God's protection was through scripture memorization and prayer. He had memorized many Bible verses before his imprisonment and would meditate on them during the long hours of solitary confinement, finding comfort in the words of the Psalms and other passages. During his three years of solitary confinement, he would sleep during the day, and through the night he would dwell on passages of scripture aiming to write a sermon each night.

Richard also experienced the Lord's protection through moments of unexpected kindness and small miracles that helped him survive. For example, there were times when guards would unexpectedly allow him a small favor, like getting extra food or being able to speak briefly with another prisoner. These moments, though fleeting, gave him hope and a reminder that God had not abandoned him. Richard often spoke of the peace that filled his heart during these moments, allowing him to endure the intense suffering without losing his faith.

Another way Richard found the Lord's protection was through the inner strength given to him by the Holy Spirit to forgive and love his captors. Despite the brutality he experienced, he often prayed for his guards and sought to share the message of Jesus with them. This radical love and forgiveness not only protected his heart from hatred but also created unexpected opportunities to witness. On several occasions, his attitude of forgiveness led to guards being more lenient or even curious about his faith, opening doors for quiet conversations about Christianity within the very system that was designed to eradicate it.

Richard's story of endurance and divine protection became widely known after his release from prison in 1964.

Richard’s story is one that reminds us to stand firm in our faith, even in the face of intense persecution, even when battling significant health challenges, even in times of great loss, we can find strength in the knowledge that God is with us..... Providing protection in unexpected and often miraculous ways.

I can only imagine, what a Psalm like 121 would have meant to Richard as he sat in that prison. As he recovered from deep tissue wounds that were inflicted on him. As sickness and infection worked its way through his body, how this Psalm may have reminded him of the Grace and Mercy of God, that in this moment, the Lord is still with him.

You see the Lord is our keeper. He is our protector. He is our helper.

It doesn't matter what you are facing, if you are asking the question, “Where does my help come from?” I promise you, it comes from the Lord. But it’s not like He is just there to help. He is watching over you. He is diligently exercising great care for you.

Psalm 121:3–8 “3 He will not let your foot be moved;

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 shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.”

8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

These are powerful words of great meaning. It is recognizing the promise of the Lord and His care for His children.

It says “He will not let your foot be moved.” The idea being that when you thought your foot was slipping. When you were looking down, seeing your inevitable fall as your foot begins to slide off the ledge, He keeps you. He doesn't let you fall into the pit.

You might ask, “Well why does God allow me to get so close, why does he allow me to face such challenges?” Because if you didn't see the depth of your need for Him, you might be so bold as to think you don’t need Him. The challenges we face are a blessing because they remind us to be dependent on Him as we go through them. And when they are done, as we look back we see how all along the way that God was there.

“He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

Have you ever thought about the amount of sleep we need? How much of our life we will be totally unconscious, unaware of our surroundings, unable to defend ourselves or the people around us? On average, if a person lives to be 80 years old and they average 8 hours of sleep a night, they will sleep for 233,600 hours. Let me help you with the math, that's about 26.6 years that they will be asleep.

Let me ask you, who is watching over you for those 26 years when you are incapacitated? Who is guarding your home?

This is one of the amazing differences between us and the Lord. The Lord doesn't need sleep. In fact, He cares about you too much to dare to sleep.

We are just like the disciples who were asked to pray with Jesus the night before He would die on the cross. I imagine they tried. I imagine they knew they should. But Mark’s gospel Jesus says to the disciples “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The Lord’s Spirit is willing and able to constantly be alert and engaged. We simply don’t have that kind of strength.

Praise God, that in each moment, the Lord is with you. In each and every moment, He is watching over you.

Psalm 121:5–7 “5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.”

There are many dangers in life, some that come during the day and others that come during the night.

Day time dangers might include staring at the sun during the eclipse!

Or perhaps,

Occupational hazards.

Work related risks and injuries. Especially when we consider building large structures or being a black smith.

Transportation accidents

In the ancient world there were many unpaved roads, basic modes of travel included carts, horses, and walking. Accidents could occur due to uneven roads, animal related incidents, or collisions with other carts.

Political unrest

Jerusalem has been a political hot spot for almost all of history. Weather it is being captured by invading armies or riots and protesters aim to make a statement, Jerusalem has often had civil unrest.

Poor sanitation

people were more susceptible to disease in crowded areas.

Dangers during the night may include:

Robbery

Poor lighting on streets and in homes

Fires - caused by the little lighting they were using.

Animal attacks

Day or night both historically and today, there are natural dangers that we face. But when the heat of the sun is on you, its the Lord that provides protecting shade. Nor will the Lord abandon you to the night. In both cases, the Lord will guard you.

Psalm 121:8 “8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

It doesn’t matter if you remain in the U.P. or if you go to Kyrgyzstan, this is the promise of the Lord, that He will go with you. What a promise to embrace! What a loving act of God, to give such attention and care to His children.

In closing, I want us to consider our response to the goodness of God. I want us to look through the lens of that word Shamar. We talked about it being a sense of watching over, guarding, protecting and doing so with great care. One of the best ways to interpret scripture is by using scripture. So when we cross-reference this word Shamarl looking all over the bible for how it is used, what we find is that it is most commonly used in how we should respond to the Lord.

In this passage, we are reminded of the great privilege it is to be a child of God. That He is diligent to carefully watchover us in every moment. In being reminded of His strength, of His blessing, of His Holiness. Meaning that our response to Him should be with the same attitude of Shamar. That we should be diligent to seek after Him. To look for Him. To carefully and diligently watch-over what the Bible teaches. To guard the truth of His word. We are to diligently exercise great care in our pursuit of God.

As you go today, going back into the world of work, family, and tension, go having the assurance that the Lord of the universe is your guide. As believers, we were never called to have a cush life free from the struggles of this world. Just as Jesus leaned into the struggle, faced it head on, so we are called. In any struggle, we can receive encouragement from the promises of the Lord and sleep through the night with contentment.

Closing: Tim and Ann’s Letter - Church Email list or Church Facebook page.