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;
Psalm 121 ESV
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
In my opinion, this is one of the more beautiful Psalms. It beautifully depicts God as God and mother, protector, and friend. It shows the many faces of our God in just a few verses. It easily and precisely rolls back the veil between God and us. The thinness of the spiritual and physical is almost none existent here. To see God as our helper, walking with us, serving us in our need, protecting us from hurt – God feels real and tangible.
Why would we walk away and search for love in other places?
That’s easy enough to answer. Because we don’t live in Psalm 121. We forget who God is to us and for us. When everything in life stacks against us, it’s hard to turn to God.
When the bills are overdue, the doctor calls with bad test results, your kid is in trouble at school, and your job doesn’t satisfy you. It’s hard to remember God is watching you and caring. It doesn’t feel like God is there to help. It feels impossible that God wouldn’t let your foot slip. I know. I’m going through all of those things in one way or another just this month. Answering the phone and checking email or text messages is getting harder. I just don’t know that my heart can handle more bad news or a situation to handle. I know in some of my darkest times, it is hard to turn to God and see goodness. Other times I remember to try. Try and lean into God, allow God to help, to be with me. This season, I’m trying. I remember reading Psalm 121 over and over in 2020 when we all needed extra hope and goodness. It sustained me then, and it can sustain me now.
And that’s what Psalm 121 promises us and reminds us. Even when it all goes wrong, God is with us and loves us. We can turn to God like a loving mother – ready to hug us and let us weep without judgment. We can always turn to God to fill our desire for love.