Psalm 121 Bible Study

Introduction — A Song for the Road

Begin by having someone read Psalm 121:1–8 aloud.

Psalm 121:1–8 NKJV

1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

“As you listened to this Psalm, what word or phrase jumped out at you?”

Give time.

Someone may say help, keeper, sleep, preserve, forevermore.

Background

Psalm 121 belongs to Psalms 120–134, each bearing the heading “A Song of Ascents.”

These appear to have been associated with worshipers going up to Jerusalem for the great pilgrimage festivals. Jerusalem sits in the hill country, so wherever the traveler began, going to Jerusalem was literally an ascent.

Imagine the setting.

No automobile. No interstate. No hotel reservation. No streetlights. No weather forecast.

You are traveling with your family, perhaps for days. There are rocky paths, uncertain weather, heat, exposure and the normal dangers of ancient travel.

And somebody begins to sing:

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?”

“lift my eyes”

evokes desire and fear

Looking with longing.

And the answer comes:

“My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”

Think about this:

Psalm 121 is not the song of somebody sitting safely at home. It is the song of somebody on a journey.

And that makes it a Psalm for life.

Opening question

Ask:

“When you don't know what is around the next bend in the road, what do people tend to look to for security?”

Let them answer: money, health, family, government, doctors, experience, their own ability, insurance, retirement, etc.

Then:

“None of those things are necessarily wrong. But Psalm 121 asks a deeper question: When all those helps reach their limit, where does my ultimate help come from?”

1. LOOK UP — My Help Comes from the Lord

Psalm 121:1–2

Have someone reread verses 1–2.

Psalm 121:1–2 “1 I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? 2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.”

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help?”

Is the Psalmist saying, “My help comes from the hills”?

Now Verse 2 answers the question:

“My help comes from the LORD.”

The hills may be what he sees.

God is the One beyond what he sees.

Fear argues the mountains are too big, faith asserts that the Lord is bigger than my fears.

Don't confuse what you can see with the One who controls what you can see.

The traveler sees mountains.

But then he remembers:

“Who made heaven and earth.”

That is enormously important.

He doesn't merely say:

“God can help me.”

He reminds himself who God is.

The God I am asking to help me is the God who made the terrain I'm afraid to travel through.

He’s the God of Covenant but He’s also Creator.

Interactive question

“Why do you think the Psalmist connects God's help with creation? What difference does ‘Who made heaven and earth’ make?”

You may get several answers, but drive toward this:

My problem may be bigger than me, but it cannot be bigger than my Creator.

Scripture readings

Have different people look up:

Psalm 46:1–3 “1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah”

Isaiah 40:28–31 “28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

Hebrews 4:16 “16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Then ask:

“Can you think of a time when God helped you, but His help came differently than you expected?”

That question could generate some wonderful testimony.

2. HOLD ON — My Keeper Never Sleeps

Psalm 121:3–4 “3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.”

Have another person read verses 3–4.

Now notice a word that begins dominating the Psalm:

“Keeps.”

Depending upon the English translation, the Hebrew root shamar appears repeatedly throughout vv. 3–8. The idea is to keep, guard, watch over, preserve.

Psalm 121 isn't merely about a God who occasionally helps us.

It is about a God who continually keeps us.

“He will not allow your foot to be moved.”

Picture that pilgrim walking a rocky path.

One loose stone. One misplaced step. One stumble.

That image makes the verse come alive.

Thought-provoking question

“Does ‘He will not allow your foot to be moved’ mean Christians never stumble, never hurt, never become sick, never lose anything, and never experience tragedy?”

Obviously not.

So ask the harder question:

“Then what does God's keeping actually mean?”

That could produce an excellent discussion.

God's keeping does not mean nothing painful can happen to me.

It means nothing can happen to me outside His knowledge, presence, sovereignty, and ultimate keeping.

Then comes one of the most comforting pictures in Scripture:

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

Ill.

There is something profoundly comforting about a child falling asleep in the car while a parent drives.

The child doesn't know the route.

The child isn't watching the traffic.

The child doesn't know how many miles remain.

The child can sleep because someone he trusts is awake.

There's your line:

“I don't have to stay awake worrying about tomorrow because my Keeper will already be awake when tomorrow gets here.”

Biblical contrast — Elijah and Baal

Have someone read 1 Kings 18:26–27 “26 So they took the bull which was given them, and they prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even till noon, saying, “O Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice; no one answered. Then they leaped about the altar which they had made. 27 And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.””

Elijah mocks the prophets of Baal:

“Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.”

Then return immediately to Psalm 121:

Our God never has to be awakened.

Ask:

“What are some things we lose sleep over that God never loses control over?”

3. WALK ON — My Keeper Stays Beside Me

Psalm 121:5–6 “5 The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.”

“The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand.”

Notice the change.

God isn't pictured merely above me in heaven.

He is “at your right hand.”

Near.

Present.

Alongside.

Ask the congregation:

“Why do you think knowing God is with us can sometimes be more comforting than simply knowing God can change our circumstances?”

That's a deeper question than “Can God fix it?”

Sometimes He changes the circumstance.

Sometimes He walks with us through the circumstance.

Have someone read Isaiah 43:2 “2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…”

Notice what God doesn't say:

“You will never pass through waters.”

He says:

“When you do, I will be with you.”

Then read Psalm 23:4:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”

Why does David fear no evil?

Not because there is no valley.

“For You are with me.”

There's a powerful connection between Psalms 23 and 121:

The security of the believer is not the absence of valleys; it is the presence of the Shepherd.

“The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.”

The language encompasses the entire experience:

Day and night.

When you can see what's happening—and when you cannot.

When the danger is obvious—and when it isn't.

When life makes sense—and when it doesn't.

God's watch doesn't change shifts.

4. REST ASSURED — My Keeper Will See Me Through

Psalm 121:7–8 “7 The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. 8 The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.”

Have someone read the final two verses slowly.

“The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.”

This raises another excellent discussion question:

“How can the Bible say the Lord preserves us from evil when believers obviously experience terrible things?”

The Psalm cannot mean God's people never experience suffering. The Bible itself would contradict that interpretation.

Joseph suffered.

Job suffered.

David suffered.

Paul suffered.

The apostles suffered.

Jesus suffered.

So God's ultimate promise is greater than:

“Nothing bad will ever happen.”

It is:

“Nothing that happens will ultimately separate God's people from God's keeping.”

That's where I would bring in Romans 8:35–39 “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Assign someone to read it.

Tribulation? No.

Distress? No.

Persecution? No.

Famine? No.

Peril? No.

Death? No.

Life? No.

Things present? No.

Things to come? No.

Nothing “shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Psalm 121:7 also says:

“He shall preserve your soul.”

God's keeping reaches deeper than our circumstances.

“Your Going Out and Your Coming In”

Now you've reached the beautiful conclusion:

“The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.”

Think about the original pilgrim.

He went out from home.

He traveled to Jerusalem.

Eventually he came home.

But the Psalmist reaches beyond one pilgrimage:

“From this time forth, and even forevermore.”

God keeps me when I leave.

God keeps me while I travel.

God keeps me when I return.

And ultimately, God keeps me all the way home.

That gives you an excellent opportunity to point toward eternity.

Read 2 Timothy 4:18 “18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom.”

Paul knew he was approaching death when he wrote those words.

Yet he could still say:

The Lord will preserve me.

That's biblical preservation.

God's promise wasn't that Paul would never die.

God's promise was that even death couldn't keep Paul from getting home.

Imagine for a moment that ancient family finally seeing Jerusalem in the distance after a long journey.

They had climbed hills.

They had crossed valleys.

They had slept beneath the stars.

There may have been moments when the children asked:

“How much farther?”

But eventually they arrived.

And perhaps that's the perspective Psalm 121 wants us to have about the whole Christian life.

We don't know every turn.

We don't know every hill.

We don't know every valley.

We don't know everything we will encounter between here and home.

But we know our Keeper.

Then slowly work back through the Psalm:

When I need help — He is my Creator.

When my foot slips — He is my Keeper.

When everyone else is sleeping — He is awake.

When the journey becomes hot — He is my shade.

When it becomes dark — He is still there.

When I go out — He keeps me.

When I come in — He keeps me.

And how long?

“From this time forth, and even forevermore.”

Final question for the congregation

“What would you face differently this week if you genuinely believed that the God who made heaven and earth is personally keeping watch over you?”

Then after responses, I'd close with:

“The Psalmist never tells us there won't be mountains. He simply reminds us where to look when we see them.”

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.”