Who Will Protect Me?

Psalm  121: 1-8

I lift my eyes toward the mountains.

Where will my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to slip;

Your Protector will not slumber.

Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep.

The Lord protects you;

the Lord is a shelter right by your side.

The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night.

The Lord will protect you from all harm;

He will protect your life.

The Lord will protect you coming

and going both now and forever.

 

***

This Psalm is the second track on our traveling playlist. If you need a reminder and some context on these “traveling psalms”, you can find that here.

I’m not sure if the mountains represent a source of fear and trouble or if they were a place of protection. It could be easy to get hung up on that point, without reading this passage in its entirety.

Who Will Protect Me?

While the first verse may highlight the difficulties of the Psalmist, the remaining seven verses are all about the Lord. In eight verses, we read ten references to “the Lord”, “maker”, “He”, and “protector”. If you’re keeping score, that’s one question asking where our help will come from and ten references to the Lord.

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (v2)

Your Protector will not slumber.(v3)

The Lord protects you.(v5)

The Lord is a shelter.(v5)

The Lord will protect you. . .(v7)

He will protect. . .(v7)

The Lord will protect. . . (v8)

Sometimes we need ten assurances for this one big question of “How will I survive this?”

This isn’t a Psalm about the author’s problems, it’s a Psalm about the Protector.

The Psalmist answers his own question by preaching a sermon to himself. It’s a sermon that tells us everything we need to know about our need for protecting:

We have a Lord who protects us. He is greater than any created thing because He created all things. He has no human limitations. We cannot exhaust his resources. His protection is not bound by time or geographic limits.

In a time of trouble, the Psalmist places his focus on the Lord.

There is no question that protection will come and who will do the protecting.

The Lord will protect you.

You will not protect you.

 

***

Lord, you are bigger than anything I face.

You’ve created this entire world and are greater than everything in it.

In every place and every time, you protect your children.

Thank you that we can rest secure in You.

 

 

Psalms of Ascent devotionals. Easy Bible reading plan.

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