Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of the omnipresent and eternal God. These two factors are reflected in this final meditation on Psalm 121.
“The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore” (Psalm 121:8).
Reminder #5: He will guard your goings and comings perpetually.
For the sixth time in this psalm, we have the term “preserve/keep/guard.” What is it this time that God is hedging about with a formidable defense? It is our going out and our coming in. Our exits and entrances, our departures and returns.
In the case of the psalmist, there may be specific application to his trips to Jerusalem for worship. This psalm was to be sung as the worshippers made their way to the temple. When God gave the law, He addressed the potential concern regarding simultaneous nationwide pilgrimages, which were to occur three times each year. The obvious concern is that if all the men left their homes three times every year, then the enemies would exploit those absences to take over their land. God specifically promised “neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year” (Exodus 34:24).
Potentially, the psalm has something to do with that promise, and by extension, safety for the trip itself, both as they went up and as they returned. It is at least reflective of the spirit of that promise. The very interesting application is that if we obey God, even when it seems unwise or dangerous, He will take care of the threats that result from our obedience. James 4:13-15 reflects a similar idea. If we are going or doing according to God’s will, then we should expect God to guard us in the going and doing.
That is a very important premise to carry over into what is likely intended to be a broader application of this verse. Certainly, the psalmist had more goings and comings than just going to Jerusalem for worship, and God’s protection applied to the others as well, just as it applies to our many goings and comings that have nothing to do with pilgrimages. We live in a mobile and active society, and we are constantly going out and coming in.
Goings and comings. Exits and entrances. Departures and returns. I deliberately reflected the order that the verse employs. It seems to us that the first of each pair would be the challenge for protection. It is when we go out that we potentially face danger. Although for the psalmist, there may have been a particular specialized application, the verse itself does not seem to narrow the reassurance in any way, leaving it to cover anytime that we go out. That covers a lot of instances. Going out to work, to church, to minister, to run errands, to visit, to enjoy. We could easily go out a dozen times per week. Some goings are small, a trip to the grocery store around the corner, and some goings are enormous, a trip to another country. God protects at both extremes, and everywhere in between.
Lest we naively assume that our returns have no danger, God assures that He also guards our comings. This is also necessary. When we come home, to what we think is a place of safety, we still need God’s protection as much as when we are out. In fact, the amount of time we spend at home may be equal to or greater than the amount of time we are out. The bricks and boards around us are not sufficient for our protection. It is God who keeps us safe when we come home.
Together, the going and coming, the abroad and at home, cover everything. If God guards us everywhere we go and also at home, then there is no place that He is not watching. But the verse gives even greater reassurance. It isn’t just that He guards us in every place, but that He does so perpetually. “From this time forth, and even for evermore.” At face value, this sounds like the starting point of God’s guarding is whenever the person reads the passage. (For example, someone reading the passage for the first time on January 1, 2024, might think the protection starts on that day.) In reality, the truth has always existed and has been performed by God, but the assurance of the truth may not start until the day the person first reads it. From a practical standpoint, the past is past and unalterable; what is pertinent to the reader is that from this moment forward, he can know that God is watching over him. I think that is the intent of the wording – that the reader would be reminded and reassured of the truth of God’s unending care. There is no expiration date. So the psalmist’s final reminder is, “Hey, God will guard you everywhere you ever are, and He will never stop guarding.”
Concluding thoughts:
The thoroughness of the psalm. From multiple angles, the psalmist
speaks of complete help by utilizing contrasts. Day and night (vs. 3-4), evils
seen by the sun, by the moon, and by no one (vs. 5-7), coming and going (v. 8),
now and forever (v. 8). It’s hard to imagine how the discussion could be more
thorough. In fact, there is overlap to the point of redundancy. But the redundancy
is helpful, because it causes the psalmist to look at the same problem from
multiple angles and thus receive extra reassurance.
The importance of reminders. When we are in trouble, we need reminders. We know the truth, but we forget to focus on it. This man helped himself to remember by having a physical object as his starting point. Looking at the mountains prompted him to start his thought process, and in two different ways they reminded him of who his Helper was; He was both the God who created those mountains, and He was the God who was worshipped in those mountains. After the foundational reminder about who his Helper is, the psalmist then purposefully enumerates deliberate reminders of supporting details.
The focus of this psalm is very homogenous. One of the opening thoughts is that this man needs help. Otherwise, he would not be going through this exercise of remembering his Helper. But the content of the psalm reveals the particular kind of help he needed. His key words are all very similar. Including the words themselves and the ways they can be translated, we have this list: keeper, shade, preserve, guard, protect. Furthermore, the actions are of the same nature: maintaining our footing, constant vigilance with no sleeping, warding off dangers and evil. This man’s needs were in the arena of safety, so that is what he focused on. Our needs may be different. But if our area of need is comfort, wisdom, strength, etc., God is still able to meet our needs. The Bible has truths for every one of those categories, and it provides us with appropriate reminders on which to meditate.
May you truly know and experience God as your Helper this week, in whatever your area of need happens to be. He will take care of you.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
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