This psalm has a particular resonance for me, because it has meant much to me on several occasions. Two weeks after I had arrived in Canada in 1960, to spend a year there, apart from my wife and small children – I received a telegram informing me that she had just had a mastectomy for breast cancer. I immediately sent a telegram to her in hospital – “Loving thoughts and prayers. Psalm 121. Alan” I hope, in these few minutes, to explain my choice of this psalm.

Where does my help come from?

When a psalmist asks a question – of himself, or of God – it always reveals a deep cry of the human heart. Here he asks, Where does my help come from? He had a deep sense of need, and knew he couldn’t meet that need himself! He answered his own question, saying, My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He makes three assertions:

• 1. It is MY help – not help in general. He’d had help in the past, and knew where it had come from. Indeed, it wasn’t where but who!
• 2. It came from the LORD – the covenant-God of Israel, Yahweh, who had rescued his people from slavery in Egypt. Now he sees himself as part of God’s covenant people, with his own personal trust in the LORD.
• 3. And the LORD, he says, is none other than the Creator, who has made heaven and earth. Therefore there is none to compare with HIM, none who can challenge him, there is nothing he cannot do.

The psalmist begins his song, I lift my eyes to the hills. When this psalm became a pilgrim song, sung by men and women on their way to a festival in Jerusalem, these words must have expressed their longing to get there – for Jerusalem is set on a hill, and surrounded by hills. Perhaps, too, it expressed the weariness or dangers on the way. We too are pilgrims journeying to the heavenly Jerusalem – and there are dangers for us – distractions that can keep us from our “first avow’d intent to be a pilgrim”! (John Bunyan: ”Who would true valour see,..”)

So too it may have been for the writer of the psalm. For him the hills may have represented something quite different. Originally ‘hills and mountains’ spelled out ‘fertility’ because they were sources of water. The pagan people of Canaan worshipped their gods on the hills, to encourage them to give agricultural prosperity. And they did this with ritual prostitution, encouraging the gods to be equally fertile! Sadly, when Israel settled in the land, many abandoned the pure ways of the LORD, and were seduced by the worship of their neighbours’ Baals.

So we may well ask – what may seduce us from following the Lord, and trusting in him? Mankind has always sought prosperity by the shortest route! Not only by theft and dishonesty – but also by appeals to ‘good fortune’ through gambling, bribery, etc. But what are these, in essence? Short-cuts to blessing which, in his wisdom, the Lord may have withheld from us! Let’s be very sure that we submit ourselves humbly to him, and not distrust him, by seeking through worldly means, as it were, to twist his arm. I have in mind all the ways by which the worldly seek to influence the decisions of others in their favour. No, we won’t look to the ‘hills’, but to him who made heaven and earth!

What kind of help does God promise?

In verse 3 another voice seems to speak, but perhaps it is still the writer, speaking to himself – all the yous and yours are singular! At first, then, he expresses himself in a prayer or wish, May He not let your foot slip, may He who keeps you not slumber! But his confidence rises, he knows he is one of God’s people, whom God always guards! He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep! The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand.

What kind of help is the psalmist looking for? What kind of help are we in need of? He feels he is in danger of his foot moving or slipping – if you walk or climb in the mountains you will get the picture! But spiritually? We can so easily lose our footing on the Christian walk, by neglecting to spend time with our Lord in prayer and in reading his word. We lose a sense of direction, we make harmful choices, we spoil our relationships with others by selfish-ness, by hurtful words and actions. We need to come constantly to our Saviour, for forgiveness, and to ask him to keep us from such falls, and to keep us from harmful choices.

But there are other harmful things that happen to us, over which we have no control. A road accident, a loss of health, loss of a job, or a bereavement… How should we react to these things? Do we look on them as meaningless and random, as the worldly do? Or, like our psalmist, do we regard everything as being in God’s hands, who alone preserves our life, and keeps us from every evil thing?

Faced with such different ways of looking at things, our thoughts may go to those to whom all manner of evil has come. Christians persecuted, tortured or martyred for their faith; others robbed of health, or livelihood, or faced with grave hardship, and so on… And we ask ourselves, what is it exactly that God promises his people? Here in this psalm?

1. His constant presence with us. The LORD is your keeper, your guardian. He is ever watchful over you. He neither slumbers nor sleeps… by day and by night he is at your right hand.
(see also: Joshua 1:5b,9; Heb 13:5,6; Isa 41:10, 42:16)

2. His willingness and ability to keep us from sin. He will not let your foot slip. He will keep you from evil.
(Heb 2:18, 4:15-16; Jn 17:15;1 Cor 10:13; Gal 5:16; 2 Pet 2:9)

3. His keeping us from any misfortune that is not for our blessing. He will keep us, guard us, from all evil. He will keep, he will guard your life. He will watch over your going out and your coming in, both now and for evermore.
(Psa 84:11; 34 &91; Matt 4:6,7; Rom 8:28,31-39; Lk 21:12-19)

4. He will bring us to his eternal kingdom. He will keep you now.. and for evermore.
(Rom 8:29-30; Eph 1:11-14, 2:4-6; 1 Cor 15:19-22)

Why can I be sure of that help?

Such strong assertions will need to be backed up from other places in God’s word. But before I do that, let’s remind ourselves how this worked out in the lives of others.

Think of Joseph. We’re told they bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons. (Psa 105:18) All because his brothers hated him, and sold him into slavery – and because he’d refused to have sex with his master’s wife. But it was the route God had ordained for his rise to greatness. As he said himself, God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Gen 50:20)

Or think of David. Hunted down as an outlaw, with a price on his head, having to hide in caves in the wilderness from the malice of his father-in-law, the king. Here he is, trapped, with his enemies just outside, the king himself about to come in. In Psalm 57 David expresses his feelings and his prayer – Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge… Where is David’s confidence and hope, when all seems lost? I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfils his purpose for me. Perhaps only afterwards could David go on to say, He sends from heaven and saves me, rebuking those who hotly pursue me; God sends his love and faithfulness…(Psa 57:1-3)

There are so many examples in Scripture to encourage us – that God keeps the feet of of his saints (Hannah’s song: 1 Sam 2:9), but I will refer to one more: think of King Hezekiah. He becomes seriously ill, and the prophet Isaiah tells him, This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover. How would you react to such unwelcome news?

Hezekiah prayed – and wept bitterly. (Isa 38:1-8; 2 Kgs 20:1-11) He asked God to remember his own good conduct, rather than cast himself on the God who heals. But God showed him mercy all the same, as he does us, despite our sinfulness. Before Isaiah had left the palace precints, God told him to return. Go and tell Hezekiah, “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria.”

And God confirmed his promise to Hezekiah with a truly miraculous sign – a shadow cast by the sun reversed direction, by a substantial amount. (Isa 38:8) Why did God do that? To demonstrate that He is Sovereign over creation and over the affairs of men – and that His overall and ultimate purpose is to rescue His chosen people from all evil, to be with Him forever.

Let me remind you of the words of David, I quoted a moment ago – God fulfils – is fulfilling and will fulfil – his purpose for me. (Psa 57:2) And not just for Joseph, David and Hezekiah, but for all who put their trust in Him and walk uprightly before Him. Paul writes, We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose… [Nothing] in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:28,39)

It was on this basis that I took the words of Psalm 121 and applied them to my life and rested my prayer upon them. Does that mean that I could have confidence that God would do all that I might desire? No, of course not – for I am short-sighted as to what is in my best interest – let alone what God purposes for my life, or is in the best interest of all his people.

But these words, and especially the last verse, The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in, both now and for evermore, have given me comfort on several occasions. I can remember reading them in a rough army camp on the night before embarking for the Isle of Man where I was to join an Officer Cadet Training Unit of the Royal Air Force. No great matter, but I had my anxieties.

Again they spoke to me when I sailed to Canada for a year, having to leave behind my wife and little children – not least during a severe Atlantic storm! – but also when I received that fateful telegram, telling me of my wife’s illness. At that time other Scriptures taught me that the Lord knew what he was doing! These were:

• Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. (Lam 3:31-33)
• I will refine them like silver and test them like gold.. (Zech 13:9)
• My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)
• Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Prov 3:5,6)

And the Lord graciously surrounded me with his providential care – during my year in Canada I was almost always under a Christian roof. The professor I was going to work with, turned out to be an evangelical Christian, and I lodged with a deacon of his church. Even on the train crossing Canada, I found myself kneeling in prayer with a missionary I met on it – and all this before I received that telegram. And my wife and family were similarly provided for.

Before we conclude our look at this psalm, let us realise that the phrase: your going out and your coming in, covers all the circumstances of your life, your every day working life, all the things that bring you anxiety. Similarly with the sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. It is a way of speaking of all dangers, real or imagined. Of course, sunstroke is a real danger in hot lands, and to be moonstruck has been a real fear to many: we know that mental illness is a real grief to those affected by it. The real message of these verses is clearly that God’s people are not to live fearful, anxious lives; but trusting, praising ones, confident even in times of trouble and distress. (Matt 6:25-34)

Finally, as we look at these verses, realise that if the LORD keeps our going out and our coming in, both NOW and for EVERMORE – that means he has guarded us, and watched over us from our birth – and will do, not just to our death – from life’s first cry to final breath – but beyond, for ever, into the eternity we shall share with him and all God’s people.

How should I respond to that help?

How should we respond to so great a loving care? Are you conscious that you have received significant deliverences – perhaps recovery from illness, or rescue from sudden danger, or unwise choices? Have you thanked God for these undeserved mercies? Do you know that by them, God is calling you to surrender your whole life to him, for time and for eternity? And have you done so?

I have, in passing, spelled out some further responses we should undoubtedly make, but here are all those I deduce from our psalm:

1. Continual, thankful praise, for God’s constant presence with us, and his daily mercies.

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God, In every part with praise,
That my whole being may proclaim Thy being and Thy ways.

2. Faithful, unyielding trust in God and his good purposes for us.

Safe in the shadow of the Lord, Beneath His hand and power,
I trust in Him, I trust in Him, My fortress and my tower…
Strong in the Everlasting Name, And in my Father’s care,
I trust in Him, I trust in Him, Who hears and answers prayer…

3. Undismayed commitment to God’s service, for he is the LORD, our covenant-God, who has made heaven and earth.

Go forth and tell! …live out your life as Christ your Lord shall choose, your ransomed powers for his sole glory use.

4. Meditation on his character and his ways, to deepen our knowledge and love of him.

Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater thing: you’re my all, you’re the best, you’re my joy, my righteousness; and I love you, Lord.

                                                                                           Amen.