The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. —Psalm 121:7-8
We have a family practice of praying before we drive somewhere, just a quick request for protection along the way and fruitfulness once we arrive. We used to ask for “angels to surround us,” or for “traveling mercies” or “a hedge of protection.” Those poetic prayers aren’t necessarily wrong, but Psalm 121 shows us a bolder way to pray.
Comprehensive and personal
We have something better than spiritual hedges, traveling mercies, and guardian angels to depend on as we journey through life. The Lord Himself has promised to be our keeper. The key word in this psalm–keep–is repeated six times in eight verses. In Hebrew, keep is shamar. It means to guard, watch over, and attend to carefully (ESV study Bible, 1103). Psalm 121, in its entirety, is a declaration that God Himself watches over us tirelessly, and that He is with us all along the way. Alec Motyer says God’s promised protection is comprehensive and covers “every threat, the whole person, in every activity, for all time (starting now).” (Psalms By the Day, 368).
The Lord—who is the maker of heaven and earth, who never sleeps and always keeps us—He is with us. This brings to mind God’s words to Joshua, quoted in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” There is no greater protection from harm than God.
This Psalm teaches us to trust the Lord for our journeys, but also for the journey—life itself. The ESV Study Bible says of this travel prayer that “the successful journey [to Jerusalem] becomes a parable of the whole of one’s life” (ESV, 1103).
Psalm 121 is blessedly imbalanced: with the exception of us lifting our eyes to the Lord, all of the doing is His. He is the One who will not let your foot be moved, He keeps you, He will not slumber or sleep, He is your shade, He will keep you from all evil, He will keep your life, He will keep your going out and coming in, now and forever.
With us through death
This call to trust in the One who is infinitely trustworthy has been a strong comfort as I gathered last week with extended family to mourn the death of my beloved Uncle Tom. Looking at Uncle’s lifeless body in the casket, I thought: he will never be at another reunion to recount our family history. His wife will go on without him. In grief she will have to learn how to live alone. And yet, we are not without hope.
We can lift up our eyes to the Lord, our salvation. Paul recounts the reason we’re able to rejoice at a funeral: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).
When we were dead in our sin, Jesus died for us, opening the way for us to be saved. God has promised to be with us, to keep us, and to take us safely home to heaven. We will still have trouble in this life on our journey home, but we are not alone. Jesus said, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Not only that, but He has promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).
The Good Shepherd walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23). His presence is why, in that horrible place, we can “fear no evil.” He is with us to keep us, and to take us safely home to be with Him. Jesus will keep our life through death. He has already done the hardest part with His death on the cross in our place. When we trust in Him, He will keep us alive with Him forever.
For Reflection
Consider this psalm’s to-do lists: God has many things on His, we have one. How does this increase your faith in the God who calls us to act, even as it exults in Him, who acts on our behalf?
What does it mean to strive with all of the strength God supplies, knowing that He is the one working in you?
Read 1 Corinthians 15:10, and Philippians 2:12-13 and ask God to increase your faith in His power.
Candice Watters is the editor of Fighter Verses and the author of Get Married: What Women Can Do to Help it Happen. She and her husband Steve are the parents of four young adults. They live in Louisville, KY.