SNBS Psalm 121
Notes
Transcript
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
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.
HELP
The hills where the Lord dwells. Like saying He dwells in Zion.
From where does my help come?
Like what does my help look? Our foot will not be moved. From this morning ‘you set my feet on a broad place’.
Why can I have confidence in Him? Creator God. Keeper of Israel. Never sleep or slumber. How? Practice? Experience? Live life?
SAFETY
The shade at my right hand… defense
Implication of right ready help. To hold our hand. To hold us up. To keep us safe. To teach us and lead us into communion with Himself. He shadows us. He is like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Or a huge shade tree giving protection from the heat and refreshing when we are tired. He is that for us!
PROTECTION
The Lord will keep you from all evil.
This translation uses ‘keep’ throughout. That is the best use since it is the same throughout in the original.
Very personal verse. It is not an agent of the Lord who will keep us, but Himself. It speaks of our eternal self. If our eternal self (soul or spirit) is kept, all of us is kept.
PRESERVATION
He will keep your going out and coming in.
Points us to Psalm 139: You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit and when I rise, go out and come in. But this is a more pointed intimate statement. You KEEP my...
None are so safe as those who God keeps
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.