* The way: a common biblical term for manner of living or moral conduct ( Ps 32:8 101:2, 6 Prv 2:20 1 Kgs 8:36). The wise through their good actions will experience rootedness and life, and the wicked, rootlessness and death. Each “way” brings its inevitable consequences. The Psalm views life as activity, as choosing either the good or the bad. * A preface to the whole Book of Psalms, contrasting with striking similes the destiny of the good and the wicked. Nor will sinners in the assembly of the just.ĦBecause the L ORD knows the way of the just, e dĥTherefore the wicked will not arise at the judgment, If Christ is our keeper, he will keep our life, and we will make it home just fine.2Rather, the law of the L ORD * is his joy Īnd on his law he meditates day and night. He was struck by the sun and he took on the darkness. When Jesus ascended to Jerusalem, he took the hill of death for us, which we could not climb. Christians are born again to a living hope, an inheritance that is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” ( 1 Pet 1:4-5). The Lord does not promise to remove our trouble, but he does keep us in it. In the lofty and the mundane, the Lord keeps our lives.Īll of this sounds quite over the top, but it’s not. From going out to our wedding day to coming home to news of cancer, the Lord is our keeper.
In the sunniest and coldest moments, the Lord is our keeper. He watches over what he loves and protects what he treasures. Our feet slip from fatigue, but the Lord is not like us: he needs no sleep, and so he watches us, he focuses on us, and he does so without distraction or blinking an eye. Thankfully, better than any other book, the Bible offers protection that really saves: Yahweh, the keeper of his people. How does this psalm picture God’s protection?īetter than any other book, the Bible describes life for us as it really is: treacherous. All of life’s diverse miseries happen under one celestial sphere or another. Overhead, there was the sun, a giver and taker of life by day, as well as the moon, bringing cold and lurking shadows at night. Feet are vulnerable to cracks, crags and holes, as well as fatigue. Our feet below carry the load of our entire person. Hills were steep, but they were also dangerous-home to robbers and creatures. Hills up ahead mean little to us when we’re in a car, but they are a threat to the traveller on foot. Several images indicate a journey filled with trouble. How does this psalm picture life’s journey?
#Psalm 121 the living bible series#
As a poem, Psalm 121 is organized according to a series of stanzas-small units of poetry-discernible in four sets of parallel lines: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 and 7-8. If you’re on an afternoon hike, you might ask, “Where did I put my sandwich?” If you’re on a multi-day walking journey in the arid climate of the Ancient Near East approaching the hills, you will ask, “From where does my help come?” But this question from the trail is followed by an answer for all of life, for this traveller’s journey was a parable of the journey of his life. This psalm begins with a question from the trail. The LORD is your shade on your right hand.įrom this time forth and forevermore. Here’s Psalm 121, a poem by a pilgrim for pilgrims on their way to God: Jesus no doubt prayed this psalm years later, and today we do the same. Later, it was placed in the last portion of the Book of Psalms, a section of psalms representing the 800-mile journey home from exile to Palestine. That’s why it’s called a ‘Psalm of Ascents’. It was used by Jewish pilgrims as they ascended to Jerusalem, the home of God’s temple and his presence, for the great feasts. In a recent conversation, Psalm 121 was God’s medicine for his soul-a picture of life’s journey, but also God’s protection on our way to him. In my role as a pastor, I have been visiting a man suffering from late-stage pancreatic cancer. Thankfully, the Christian life is a long and treacherous journey home.
Use these posts to prepare for a conversation over coffee, a meeting for counselling, or an unplanned opportunity to share from the Bible. These One-to-One articles are all about helping you help others to get into God’s word-a practical application of the approach found in David Helm’s One-to-One Bible Reading.
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