He’s Got Your Back (Psalm 121)
I am guessing that most people have experienced having a little trouble staying awake while driving. As the miles roll on, you feel your eyelids getting heavier and heavier. You slowly find yourself drifting off the road and bouncing on the rumble strips, which are cut into the asphalt to wake you up before you hurt yourself or someone else. Sound familiar? I have a few favorite “staying awake” strategies: drinking buckets of coffee, having the windows open and AC on even in the middle of winter, chewing on…anything. You get where I am going. Staying awake is difficult sometimes, but staying alert is essential to the safe operation of a motor vehicle. We hear a lot about distracted driving – cell phones, heavy eyelids, and the movie theater-sized screen in the center of some cars’ consoles all contribute. We understand what it means to be distracted.
The author of Psalm 121 (we are not specifically told who it is in the text) reminds us that God is never distracted from His role in our lives. He is never oblivious to our circumstances. The author begins with the question, “From where does my help come?” (Psalm 121:1b ESV) Then he answers, “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!” (Psalm 121:2) The One who made everything around us cares for us faithfully. He supports us now and always will. In other words, He firmly “has your back.” As the author of Psalm 121 puts it, “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.” (Psalm 121:7-8) The fact that this help is “forevermore” serves as a wonderful reminder that He has the capacity and alertness to never forget about us and our needs.
I believe we are all tempted to wonder from time to time if God really cares about our circumstances. We wonder if God has forgotten us. Is He “asleep at the wheel?” We accuse Him of neglecting us amid the chaos of life. The psalmist reminds us that not only has He not forgotten us, but the Lord is firmly with us through the struggles of our lives. When we mourn, He mourns with us. When we celebrate, He celebrates with us. When we are successful, He is cheering for us. He is with us, and He is for us.
Charles Spurgeon famously said, “There is no believer who can out-believe God. God never out-promised Himself yet!” He is faithful, even when we are not. His promises are true. We can rely on God for help; He is the only creator and sustainer of heaven and earth. God's constant watchfulness ought to bring us great peace and comfort.
Expectantly,
Shawn
