Kept on the Journey (Part 2 of 2)

Yesterday we saw how the Psalms connect with each one of us. I know I can be angry, fearful, betrayed, joyful, worshipful, and despairing (sometimes in the same week). For these reasons and many more we look to the Psalms as an emotional support system steering us back to God.

We began looking at the first two verses of Psalm 121 yesterday, my favorite Psalm because of an interaction with my now deceased brother Ben (by the way, he was awesome and for anyone who knew him he radiated the Joy of the Lord). The journey of our life was compared to the journey of the Israelites to Jerusalem for their annual festivals in the Psalm. In particular, we saw it was supposed to be sung when danger and vulnerability were the highest.

Could there be a more appropriate Psalm right now?

God KEEPS us on the journey toward Him. How? Lets look at three ways the Psalm outlines for us. In the process, simply take a moment and thank the Spirit of God for the Word He penned  which brings hope, insight, peace and a smattering of other blessings as we live UNDER it! (II Timothy 3:16-17).

1. GREAT CARE: (Psalm 121:3-4) - "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"
1. There is a transition from "my" in Psalm 121:1-2 to "you" in verses 3-4. This indicates that now he is talking to himself. We see the same language in Psalm 42, "Why are you downcast oh my soul..." 
2. The essential truth of these verses is that God carefully and diligently ensures His children will not totter or stumble. 
1. "Really, that does not square with my experience," you say. "I stumble often." Great care is not instantaneous but confirmed by faithful demonstration over time. Acts 13:17-25 tells the story of Paul preaching this VERY reality to those in Antioch, revealing at one point that "...all this took about 450 yrs"
3. Consider your life... How has God shown great care in even the smallest of things over time? Jot those down and worship as a result. Then, rejoice in His ultimate care by providing Christ for you.   
2. TENDING/GUARDING: (Psalm 121:5-6) "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"
1. Here is a culture that understood the desert. Shade is both protection and refreshment.The sun and moon are referring to visible and invisible sources of harm. Interesting, right? 
1. Consider a shepherd with a flock of sheep in the desert; vulnerable, susceptible, needy. Easily harmed. 
1. Psalm 16:8 "I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." 
2. Psalm 109:31 "For He stands at the right hand of the NEEDY one, to save him from those who condemn his soul to death." 
2. We don't like to be needy, do we? Quick, in your mind, scroll through recent uses of the word and ask, "When has needy every been used positively?" A needy person is a burden, tiring, constant, etc. Herein lies the problem. We see needy as weakness and self-sufficiency as the goal. Especially in this day and age when fears are pressed on and freedoms are removed. 
3. HOWEVER, when we view things this way ("needy is bad") we have trouble experiencing the protection and refreshment of God because we feel we should be able to provide that on our own! 
4. The thing about needy is it doesn't care who sees. That is beautiful. Flip to Mark 5 and see the woman who everyone else didn't want to see - notice Jesus' reaction and how He moves toward her! 
3. PRESERVES: (Psalm 121:7-8) "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." 
1. "keep you from all evil" cannot mean that no evil will ever befall the children of God. Jesus never promised that (see John 16:33). 
1. It refers to an ultimate reality. A promise of finality. Security. Assurance. 
2. In saying "the Lord will keep us" the author is admitting there is much that would seek to tear us from the love of God. So, what is arrayed against us, to pluck us from the Love of God? A virus, moral decline, partisan politics, forced homeschool, chronic illness, job loss, wayward child, WHAT IS IT? 
3. The Apostle Paul knew this so he penned these words of God's ULTIMATE KEEPING: (Romans 8:38-39)
1. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
4. The Psalmist also says: (Psalm 56:8-11)
1. You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, 11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Now, child of God... be KEPT on your Journey toward Him.