Tag: God’s protection

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Psalms

Unshaken

Psalms

Psalm 125 is another of my favorite psalms, in part because there was a song we used to sing at my church way back when that was based on it. I especially love the first two verses.

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds his people
both now and forevermore. (Psalm 125:1–2)

These are two vivid pictures the psalmist gives us here. First, of a mountain that cannot be shaken. And he sings that those who trust in God are like Mount Zion.

Why could it not be shaken? For its mere size?

No. Mount Zion is only about 2,400 feet high compared to, say, Mount Everest at 29,000 feet. Compared to Everest, it’s a mere hill. But it could not be shaken because God himself was watching over it.

More than that, God surrounds us as the mountains surround Jerusalem. He is our fortress. He is the one who protects us from the Enemy that would destroy us.

The psalmist then expresses confidence in God’s justice. That he would not let the evil rule over his people, lest they fall into doing evil themselves.

This is not to say, unfortunately, that it never happens. It does. But I do believe God puts limits on it. Limits to what evil rulers can do to believers, and limits to their length of reign.

As Charles Spurgeon rightly points out, the last days will be like this when God shortens the time of the tribulation for the sake of those he has chosen. (Matthew 24:22)

The psalmist thus prays that God would pour his goodness on those who are his, and reminds himself that the day of judgment will come for those who do evil. (4–5)

He then closes by praying,

Peace be upon Israel. (5b)

Life is not always easy. But let us always put our faith in God, knowing that he is watching over us and that he is with us. Because of that we will never be shaken.

When times do get tough, let us pray as the psalmist did, for God’s favor and for his peace.

If we do, we will find that the same God that watched over Israel thousands of years ago is the same God that watches over us today.

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Psalms

The God who watches over us

hills in Israel

Psalm 121 is one of the most beautiful psalms in the book and was my father’s favorite. I can see why.

It is a psalm of utter trust in the Lord.

It starts out,

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1–2)

This is another of the psalms of ascents, sung when people made their pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

And I can just imagine that as they looked up to where Jerusalem was, hope and joy sprang in their hearts. For there, they knew the presence of God resided in his temple as he had promised Solomon (1 Kings 9:4).

The temple, of course, could not contain God, as Solomon himself admitted.

Nevertheless, God promised to come and meet his people there. And he promised that when people would pray toward the temple, he would hear them (2 Chronicles 7:15).

And as the pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem, they took comfort in the knowledge that God would watch over them and protect them because he is a God that never sleeps. That he would be their shade during the hot days and their protection at night.

But it went far beyond that. They knew that he was not only with them during their pilgrimages to Jerusalem but during their pilgrimage through life. And so the psalmist wrote,

He will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore. (7–8)

Let us also take comfort in those words.

Nothing ever happens to us that doesn’t first pass through the hands of God. And he will never let us endure anything beyond what we can bear.

He will guard our lives while we are on earth. And then he will bring us into glory.

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Psalms

Shadow of the Almighty

Psalms

One of my favorite books is Shadow of the Almighty.

It’s a book that has a lot of the letters and journal entries of a man named Jim Elliot, a missionary to the Aucas in South America. If you’ve never read it, it’s well worth reading and I highly recommend it.

The ironic thing about it is that though the title of the book comes from this psalm, one can’t say that Elliot lived out this psalm at the end of his life… at least when we look at the surface.

Throughout Psalm 91, the psalmist talks about the blessings of those who live under the shadow of the Almighty.

The psalmist says that those who do will be protected from the terror by night, from the arrows that fly around them, and from the plagues that strike those around them.

He goes on to say that though thousands may fall around you because of these things, you will be preserved.

He caps this in verses 9–16, saying,

If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge—
then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

“Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

So how did Elliot end his life? By dying at the hands of the very people he was trying to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is not just an aberration either. Many have fallen before their time in their pursuit of God. Isaiah, Peter, Paul, and James, among many others.

What am I saying? That God’s word does not hold true? Not at all.

But to say that we will never suffer in this broken world would be taking this psalm too far.

And whoever the psalmist was, whether it was Moses or someone else, I find it hard to believe that they never saw suffering in this world come to those who put themselves under God’s shadow.

But I think what this psalmist is ultimately saying is that when we put ourselves under the shadow of the Almighty, he will never abandon us no matter what we go through.

Not only will he set his angels to guard over us, he himself will be with us. And though we may go through the valley of the shadow of death, he will bring us out the other side.

As we look back, we will see that all along his hand was on us. We’ll see the times he answered our cries in our times of despair. We’ll see all the evil that he spared us while we were here. And ultimately, we will see his salvation.

That’s what I believe Jim Elliot saw when he came out the other side. His Savior smiling, saying, “Well done! Now look and see what fruit your death has brought.”

Namely, the salvation of many Aucas, including some of the very ones that had killed him.

So whatever you may be going through in life, may you place yourself in the shadow of the Almighty too.

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Psalms

When God dwells within us

Psalms

Psalm 48 was probably written after an attack was made upon Jerusalem. And it praises the greatness of God who protected her.

It exults,

Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise,
in the city of our God, his holy mountain. (Psalm 48:1)

After praising the beauty of Zion in Jerusalem, it says,

God is in her citadels;
he has shown himself to be her fortress.

When the kings joined forces,
when they advanced together,
they saw her and were astounded;
they fled in terror. (3–5)

The psalmist then sings,

As we have heard,
so we have seen in the city of the Lord Almighty,
in the city of our God:
God makes her secure forever. (8)

What can we get from this?

Just as God watched over and protected the city he made his dwelling in, he watches over and protects us.

For God no longer lives in a temple within a city, he lives within human hearts.

And though our Enemy may rise up to attack us, God will make us secure if we’ll just put our trust in him.

So in times of trouble, let us not live in fear, but rather “meditate on his unfailing love.” (9)

In his eyes, we are his beautiful dwelling place and his joy, not to mention his precious children, and he will not fail to defend us.

And when we see his deliverance, let us not forget to thank him for his goodness, remembering always that,

This God is our God for ever and ever;
he will be our guide even to the end. (14)