Look To The Lord, Our Keeper

I invite you to turn in your Bibles this evening to Psalm 121, Psalm 121, that's just about in the middle of your Bible, page 656 in the Pew Bible. Tonight we continue the series, we began last time through the Psalms, known as the Songs of Ascent. There's 15 of them in the collection here, starting with 120. These songs were sung by Israel as they gathered for worship to Mount Zion, to Jerusalem, to the temple of God, as they were gathered from the four corners of the compass three times a year. And as the people of God today, when we read these psalms, we are invited to see ourselves moving through them. We don't march to an earthly temple in Jerusalem. We march to a heavenly temple, the new Jerusalem in the heavens. In Psalm 120 last time, we were reminded that we live in a hostile world. That's not our home. And we do so yearning for the peace of God that will only be known in its fullness when Christ comes again to bring us home. Next time in Psalm 122, we will be reminded that we're called together to worship corporately, to worship as a body as we are here this evening. But not only here week to week, but ultimately again around the throne of grace glory when we're ushered into the heavenly Jerusalem. And tonight in Psalm 121 often known as the Traveler's Psalm we're reminded that the Lord has not left us to ourselves on the way. He's not punched our ticket and said I'll see you at the other side. He walks with us all along the way and we're reminded of that this evening from Psalm 121. Perhaps you've read it or prayed it when you got ready to take extraordinary or long journey. Perhaps you've done so when your children have left home, left the nest. I do know it's Dick and Gurney Dykstra's wedding psalm, because the minister knew that right after the wedding they were heading to America, so it seemed fitting. It's a traveler's psalm. But God gave Psalm 121 not only to the Israelites traveling to Jerusalem, but He gave it to every child of God. He gave it to us tonight, who are on our way to a building from God that's not made with hands, that's eternal in the heavens. He gave it to us and for us in the Christian life as we walk as His people through this foreign land, through the place that we know as home. As we read this psalm, it will expose our utter dependence on the Lord. Not only three times a year, not only once a week, not only when we're in a corner and in a pinch, but day and night, from this time forward and forevermore. And it invites us to look to the Lord, our keeper, to provide help, to prevent stumbles, to parry attacks, and to preserve life. We read now from Psalm 121, hear now the word of God. A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep you. He'll keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Here ends the reading of God's Word. But when the psalmist begins in verse 1, I lift up mine eyes to the hills. What hills does he see? Books have been written about what hills he's looking at. Were there the hills surrounding Jerusalem that represented safety? hills from which the help he needs will come? Or are they hills between those hills and himself that represent danger, for which he will need help to travel the steep ravines and up the mountain passes and to avoid ambush? There are arguments both ways, but I am convinced that we do not know for sure and that we don't need to know for sure because whatever hells he's looking at, whether they represent safety or danger, the answer to his question is not found in the hills. He looks to the hills with his eyes and he says, From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. My help comes from the creator of heaven and earth, the creator of me, the creator of these hills. My help comes from the Lord. That's all capital letters. That's Yahweh. It comes from my covenant God who has purchased me with a price, who has shed blood for my redemption. The psalmist saw that blood in the blood of the Lamb at Passover, depicting, of course, the blood of the Lamb to come, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who shed His blood for all His people. We hear already in this psalm, the psalmist's faith, a faith like what we professed from Heidelberg 26 tonight. That's why we read it. His faith is in the God, His Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, he confesses him as his God and his Father because of the Messiah who he's yet to see whom we know as Jesus Christ I trust him so much that I do not doubt that he will provide help as he would say it he'll provide help he's able to do this because he's almighty God he desires to do this because he's my Father well then how is it that God our Father helps his children in verse 3 the psalmist now turns from having a conversation with himself asking a question, giving himself an answer he turns to another pilgrim and from here on out he's talking to you and you, and you and you he's not talking to a group, he's talking to an individual and this word of God comes to us tonight as individuals who belong to the body of Christ he turns from himself to his fellow pilgrim to show him how the Lord helps and he does so through the lens of a single word and that word is keep. It's mentioned five times in the next five verses. We can sum it up this way. The Lord is your keeper. It is he who keeps you and he demonstrates for us a few ways. In verses three and four, the psalmist invites you to look to the Lord, our keeper, to prevent stumbles. And he does so because you need him to keep a vigilant watch on your every step. His declaration about who God is as our keeper presupposes what's true about us as his people. We're prone to stumble. We're prone to fall. If left to themselves, the pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem, along uneven paths, down ravines, up passes, would slip, they might fall. At the very least, they might slow their progress toward God's house. They might stop for a time. They might even give up and go home. Now, if you have hiked or biked the unpaid pass out here at Daily Rants, you know what the terrain would be like. Just expand that by miles. The road was long and steep and rough. But he who keeps Israel does not leave his people to themselves. He's not like Baal, who the false prophets prayed to on Mount Carmel, asking him to come down for their sacrifice. No one answered them. No one paid attention to them. He's not like that. He's a God who hears, as we'll see. In the pilgrim's walk to Jerusalem, this rough walk over rough terrain, unsteady steps, illustrates our walk through life. We don't have to think very long or very hard about the difficulties of life. And if left to ourselves, we too would slip. And the scripture tells us that if we were left to ourselves, we would slip and fall and turn back. But God, our Father in Jesus, has not left us to ourselves. He's not like any other resource we would turn to to help us be stable. He's not like our authorities, our leaders. He's not like our family. He's not like our friends. He's not like our own wits. It's not like money or power or position. All of which will someday, one day or another, let us down. Let us fall. They can't carry the weight. None of them is who He is. God Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth. And none of them can do what only He can do. Behold, the psalmist says. Behold, in verse 4, he says, He who keeps Israel, he will not let your foot be moved. He'll not let you miss a single step. For he who keeps you will not slumber. He will neither slumber nor sleep. That's a promise from the Word of God. Therefore, we can be as confident as the Apostle Paul who said that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. You will make it home. And you can trust with Jude that He who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory is the only God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. He will get you home. In verses 5 and 6, the psalmist changes images to show us another aspect of the Lord's keeping. And he invites you to look to the Lord, our keeper, to parry attacks because you also need Him to keep constant guard against your enemies. A parry is a good word, even if you don't know what it means. It's good because it's a P, and I kept my alliteration alive. But really, the word itself is an apt description for what's going on here. You've seen a parry if you've ever watched a fencing match in the Olympics, a sword fight in a movie, or Star Wars with lightsabers. A parry is a way to deflect or to block the blow of your opponent. and that's what the Lord does for his people. He deflects, he blocks the attacks against his people. If left to themselves without protection, those pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem were subject to attack. Attack by bandits, by armies, by pagan worshipers who lived and worshiped in the hills. Highway robbery, you've heard the expression. And the psalmist illustrates the reality of attack with this imagery of light. With a constant onslaught of light. Day and night, sunlight and moonlight. It's always on God's people. This is a negative picture. And to play out that imagery for them by day, sunstroke could be a problem. Sunlight would cause that if you're out in it too much. And every ER provider here would agree. And by night, moonlight could cause madness. Lunacy, as many in Israel believe. And I suspect, a few ER providers might suspect when it's a full moon. The Lord is your keeper. In this way also, He's your shade at your right hand. He's your shade at your right hand. He's not only the shade because He deflects the attacks of this light, of sunlight and moonlight. He deflects attacks that would otherwise strike you and hurt you. He's also on your right hand, and this is significant. Because on your right hand, he represents your strength. He is your strength. Therefore, with King David, you can be confident with the Lord as your shade on your right hand. But because he's at your right hand, you will not be shaken. And David also said that the Lord, your keeper, stands at the right hand of the needy. to save him from those who would condemn his soul to death. He's your strength at your right hand. He's your defender at your right hand. He keeps you and guards you from attack. And now remember, this pilgrim's walk to Jerusalem illustrates our walk to the new Jerusalem. And if left to ourselves, we too would be struck down. We'd be struck down by our three mortal enemies, the world, the flesh, our own flesh, and the devil. but God our Father in Jesus has not left us to ourselves the Lord is your keeper the Lord is your shade at your right hand and we hear this message coming out in 1 Peter chapter 1 when Peter reminds and assures all of us who have been born again by the blood of Jesus Christ that not only do you have an inheritance that's kept in heaven for you we love that we know that we trust that but more than that you are also by God's power being guarded all the way until you receive it that's the psalmist's image for us you are being guarded the Lord is your shade in your right hand so on the way we can live by faith confident that even if the world hates you as it hated him. Jesus said, I have overcome the world. Confident that the old self has been crucified, put to death in Jesus Christ in order that the body of sin would be done away with and the power of sin would be broken. Our flesh no longer controlled. And confident that with the shield of faith, as Paul describes it in Ephesians chapter 6, the shield of faith, you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. You see, the Lord is our shame at our right hand. Thanks be to God that He's given us the victory in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then finally in verses 7 and 8, the psalmist invites you to look to the Lord, our Keeper, to preserve life. He does so because the Lord has promised to keep you. He moves from illustration to declaration. The Lord has promised to keep you. He's promised to keep you entirely. He's promised to keep you universally. Let me unpack. In verse 7, you are promised the Lord will keep you entirely, body and soul, soul and body. He will keep you from all evil, and He'll keep your life. That's you. He'll keep you from all evil, He'll keep your life. He will keep you from all evil might sound too good to be true because we know how often we bump into it. How often it comes out of our own hearts. How often it frustrates our relationships with other people. How often it disturbs our world. We know that evil is present, but the promise is he will keep you from all evil. Contrary to our experience, what we bump into and how life feels and what we think about that, the scripture teaches what we are equipped by faith to believe is that on the night in which he was betrayed, handed over into the hands of wicked men, of evil men. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed. He prayed to the Lord your keeper, not only for Peter, that his faith would not fail, even though Satan was going to sift him like wheat. He prayed for you, and he prayed for me. He prayed to the Father, saying, I do not ask that you take them out of this world, but that you keep them from the evil. Jesus has prayed for you. The Lord will keep you from all evil. And Jesus taught us to pray, did he not? This petition that the Lord our keeper will hear and he will answer. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. The Lord has made provision for us as people. And not only will the Lord keep you from all evil, he will also keep your life. He'll keep your life. And I find no better way to sum that up than what Jesus said Himself, that He is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Him, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in Him shall never die. This is the promise of eternal life that's ours in Christ. We can't be lost. He will keep your life. Nothing can snatch you out of His hand. And with true faith, we believe and confess with Paul that even in the face of death that seems so final, the Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. That's the promise of our God. That faith holds on to and believes and steps forward into today and into tomorrow with that confidence. Again, we hear the faith that we professed in Heidelberg 26. I trust my God and Father so much that I do not doubt He will provide whatever I need, body and soul. And He will turn to my good whatever adversity He sends me in this sad world. He's able to do this. He's Almighty God. He desires to do this because He's a faithful Father. And He's promised to keep you entirely. And in verse 8, you are promised the Lord will keep you universally everywhere and all the time. Everywhere and all the time. Better than your life insurance policy. The Lord will keep you everywhere you go. You're going out and you're coming in. David marveled at this in Psalm 139. He said, O Lord, you know when I sit, you know when I rise. Where shall I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? No matter where I go, your right hand is there to hold me. Your hand is there to lead me. The Lord will keep you everywhere. And the Lord will keep you all the time. From this time forth and forevermore, the psalmist says. He's kept you since before you were conceived in your mother's womb. His eyes saw your unformed body, and in his book were written, every one of them, the days that were yet to be. There's never been, and there never will be a time that He does not keep you. He's called you by name. You are His. And the Lord will continue to keep you from this time forth and forevermore. What beautiful promises that we need to hear. We need to know. And by faith we can believe in the face of turmoil and trouble in this world. This psalm with all these positive affirmations of what the Lord is doing for His people as our keeper, how he keeps us, have taught us much about the Christian life indirectly. It's not a quiet escape from the trials and troubles of this fallen world. It's not a rose garden without thorns. Rather, it's a pilgrimage. It's a trek through foreign lands to our heavenly home, and it's a rough road. And along the way, the Lord will bring us into circumstances and into relationships that will expose to us our need, Our need for his help. Our inclination to stumble. Our vulnerability to attack. And our finitude, our finite mortality, that we're subject to death. And he will show us these things. Each of you has your own story. He's showing you things about yourself so that you will realize that Jesus was speaking to you when he said, apart from me, you can do nothing. And that we will more and more look to the Lord, our keeper. To provide help. To prevent stumbles. To parry attacks. And to preserve our very lives. The Traveler's Psalm, I pray that you will take it with you this evening. Back into the world. Back onto the trail that leads you to home. It will mark your life every day, not just on special days. Let's pray. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we are humbled and thankful to know that you are our keeper. By showing us who you are, you've shown us our need for you this evening from this psalm. We think more highly of ourselves than we ought, as though we are more able than we are. to guard our steps, to defend against attack, to provide our own help or find it in ways that we would like, that we are somehow in charge of our own lives when we know not the hour or the way in which you'll bring us home. Lord, help us to see who we really are as creatures, as your children, and that by your Spirit you would more and more open our eyes to see that you are our keeper and to have us call upon you for all that we need body and soul all the time and everywhere for your word is true and faithful we ask this all in Jesus name Amen