They teach us to look up. But the phrase used rather implies that these will never cease. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Jehovah preserveth thee from all evil, He doth preserve thy soul. Christians believe in good. Jesus said, "I am always with you" (Matthew 28:20). 2. The one duty of the watchman is to keep ever, through his watching-time, awake and alert. Look to him at any hour in the light or in the night. Yahweh will protect you from all evil; he will protect your life. The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in. Salem Media Group. so long as thou hast "goings out" and "comings in." Every Christian faces challenges. And when some terrible catastrophe occurs, as from time to time is the case, still, if we be of God's Israel, we are kept: "He shall preserve thy soul." We must look beyond our circumstances, beyond the immediate concerns, beyond the enemies that surround us. If, then, what we call disaster, and think to be so, be really amongst "all things which work together for [not merely precede, but produce the] man's good" as is so often the case (see 2 Corinthians 4:17), then is God's permission or sending of that disaster a falsifying of the promise of this psalm. The words "slumber" and "sleep" are not climactic. Follow the buttons on the right to get more detail. He will keep your soul. We think so much of the keeping of the body, and of a man's outward circumstances. Jehovah preserveth thee from all evil, He doth preserve thy soul. It has been proved, beyond a doubt, that the moon smites as well as the sun, causing blindness for a time, and even the distortion of the features. whom the Lord blessed, as he says, "since my coming", or at "my Proud member Our Lord sought seclusion among the hills of Eastern Galilee, and entered into the Divine glory on a spur of Hermon. 1. 6-8. Look up, and you shall prove how God "wipes away all tears from our eyes."R.T. We think evil to be that which injuriously affects our circumstances; God sees evil as that which injuriously affects us. Psalm 121:7 (RSV) I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? The LORD will protect you from all evil; God will protect your very life. The Hebrew of verse 4 suggests a development from what precedes. 7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 2. In Psalm 121:3b-4 we are told, [God] who keeps you will not slumber. There is no more in the setting of the two terms than poetical repetition. What does the psalmist mean when he says, I lift my eyes to the hills (Psalm 121:1). Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. It is not for the godless, but for the regenerated people of God. The LORD will preserve thee from all evil: he will preserve thy soul. v1 When I look up to THE GENERAL RULE OF GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL CARE IS AS HERE SET FORTH. Thats good, but understand that God is here to help you too. Professor, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Psalm 121 is a treasure of promise for the suffering believer, whose help comes from the Lord The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.. I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from? And if we truly desire it, the Lord will keep our going out and our coming in, in this sense also. God watches over your life from "All evil." (Psalms 121:3, Psalms 121:4). Look up; you will feel the heaven-breath upon your face. Psalms 121:7. The sun strikes openly, and is especially perilous when it strikes on the lower part of the back of the head. Now in the three former verses out of these five our version adheres to the word "keep," but in the last two it changes over to the less forcible word "preserve." The daily renewed gift of life carries with it the gift of all the life will need day by day. And for ourselves the promise holds good. stars". There have been and there are exceptions, but taking the history of God's people in all ages, and looking at their average experience, may we not cryIt is well with the righteous; the Lord is their Keeper? The Lord is thy Keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. His salvation is not so limited, lie saves the whole man, and bears as real a relation to man's temporal as to his spiritual needs. Since the colonial era, abolitionist writers turned to Psalm 121 as proof of Gods protection for enslaved people. The one prominent word in the psalm is "keep:" the whole psalm is about the Lord God's sure keeping of his people, and that this might be impressed on the mind, the writer six times over in the last five verses of the psalm repeats this word "keep." (Psalms 121:1-8) The Guardian of Gods People (Psalms 121:1-8) God the Help of Those Who Seek Him (Psalms 121:1-8) The Thou shalt not be hurt, neither by the open assaults, nor by the secret attempts of thine enemies. How powerfully we are all drawn by world-interests! "Lord, art thou here? Wait! The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; He shall preserve thy soul. He will preserve the soul, that it be not defiled by sin, and disturbed by affliction; he will preserve it from perishing eternally. indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. This psalm is best taken as expressing the pious confidence of an individual believer, who addresses his inner self in words of comfort which are framed as if proceeding from another person. Man is profoundly interested in what happens, and is wont to stop there, and miss the meaning of what happens. What a holy power upon us the mountains have! Popularity relative to other verses in Psalm chapter 121 using average monthly Google searches. My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.". Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.. Psalms 121:7. 2. Our real self is not harmed, the Lord is our Keeper, as he said. From whence cometh my help. This page was last modified on September 15, 2017, at 5:16 AM. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; or, "keep thee." Psalm 121:7 (RHE) The Lord will protect you from all danger; he will keep you safe. We'll send you an email with steps on how to reset your password. And we need the assurance of God's defense even against open and well-known evils, because he only can know the particular peril which lies in their relativity to us at any given time. Variations of the Hebrew root word for "keep" appear in verses 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8. Psalms 121:7 At first glance, Psalm 121:7 offers tremendous assurance. He *guards We have been taught to realize that God is Spirit, and dwells near us, as well as in the far-off mountains and in distant worlds. He is supremely concerned about us. But "the question is only asked to give more effect to the answer" (Cheyne). Psalms 121:3. Psalms 121:2. God knows, and can help him to defend himself from the peril. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. God takes eternity into view; we think only of the present. God's people are, after all, the happiest people under the sun. Please enter your email address associated with your Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue. Along with ensuring our perseverance (verse 3a), the Lord He never sleeps, so he never stops Warren Wiersbe describes the Valley of Baca as any difficult and painful place in life, where everything seems hopeless and you feel helpless, like the pit of despair. The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Yahweh is always awake, always aware, and always watching over his children. My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. "*Protect you" means "stop people Praise to God for His gracious acts. Use the scale on the left to tell how often the verses below are googled compared to each other. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. "Our help cometh from the Lord."S.C. THE MOUNTAINS CANNOT GIVE US HELP AND SAFETY. The same verb is used throughout. The Targum is. The LORD will keep you from all evil. Now, in this beautiful psalm we have a notable instance of such different rendering. Perhaps it is best regarded as a psalm of the Exile. Verse 2 begins with the second letter and so on. Psalms 121:3.The ministering priest answers him, "He will not suffer thy foot to be moved." Psalm 121:7 (TMBA) The LORD guards you from every evil. Looking up, you see how earth-clouds are glorified. Also, he would *protect The Lord will protect you from all danger; he will keep you safe. When the psalmist declared, therefore, He will not allow your foot to slip, he was most likely speaking of the perseverance of the saints. The promise that the Lord watches over His people extends from every day to eternity (Psalm 121:8). This journey was dangerous, and we see that reflected in the opening words of the psalm. Psalm 121:7 (DBY) Domestic woman is world-absorbed. The Lord will protect you from all dangers; he will guard your life. Informal to take unlawfully or dishonourably; steal. I. WORLD-DRAWN, WE LOOK DOWN, AND SO ARE WEAK. GOD SEES WHAT MAN MISSES. Men know this, and are duly warned to take all precautions. Where will my help come from? you as you go out and on your way home, (verse 8). My help (cometh) from Jehovah, the Maker of heaven and earth. My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. And the mountains still soothe and calm God's people. 4. Psalms 121:1. your foot *slide. The psalmist is not promising the absence of pain or even failure. 2017 QuotesCosmos Home About Privacy Terms Principles Sitemap Contact. It is constantly complained of that where, in the original Scriptures, the sacred writers employ only one word, our translators have put for that one word, two, three, four, five, or even several more different English words, thus conveying to our minds several ideas, where it was the intention of the Scriptures to convey only one. We must see all our help in God; from him we must expect it, in his own way and time. But if his soul has been kept, has not God been true to his word? foot", (See Gill on Genesis blessing him, coming in and going out, ( Deuteronomy Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same root words. Lament Psalms. Uncertainties; possibly some very great joy, or some overwhelming sorrow, or some very sore perplexity, or even the last experience of death. The LORD will protect you from all evil; God will protect your very life. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. Little slips into inexactness or untruthfulness. OUR IDEA OF BEING KEPT AND GOD'S IDEA MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT. What, then, would be any man's hope of preserving moral health and safety, if we might not cherish the assurance of the psalmist, that God understands all secret perils that gather about us, and will not let the moon smite us by night? As they ascended the hilly slopes of Jerusalem, their faces were steadfastly set towards the place that represented the Presence of the Lord, the Ark of the Covenant, in the most holy place you and be the one that *guards you. THE INSUFFICIENCY OF HUMAN HELP. 5 The Lord watches over you. This expression is evidently borrowed from the blessing on obedience given in Deuteronomy 28:6, "Blessed shall thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shall thou be when thou goest out." Remain dependent on him. And he wants to help you through lifes most difficult circumstances. One thing about them is suggested by our textthey make us look up. are called Namphanians, as Austin observes F25; who "The darkness and the light are both alike to him."R.T. He would not only pay the price for the sins of Israel, but for the sin of the whole world. I was surprised to find that the word combination depicting the stumbling step in verse 3 is never used in Scripture of physical falling. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. Psalms 76-150, Holman Old Testament Commentary by Steven Lawson. We come in to rest, enjoy; we come in to home relationships and quiet occupations; and we seldom suspect that there is a possible exaggerating of self in our times of passivity, as truly as in our times of activity. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. The translated Bible text has yet to go through Advanced Hence blessed are they who are in God's holy keeping in all the goings out and comings in of daily life! The Lord keep thee from all evil; the Lord keep thy soul. We must not only look around, but above, must "lift up our eyes to the hills, from whence cometh our help," for our "help cometh from the Lord" (Psalms 121:1, Psalms 121:2). He will be present to defend us everywhere. the hills I find no help there. There shall not be even a slip of the foot, a thing so common in mountainous lands, and often so perilous, and the keeping shall be night and day alike, and close at hand (Psalms 121:5). Jason DeRouchie is research professor of Old Testament and biblical theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, and content developer and global trainer with Hands to the Plow Ministries. THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE IS THE PROVIDENCE OF THIS WORLD. In whatever special circumstances, or for whatever particular occasion, this psalm may have been written, it is certain that it is admirably suited to suggest New Year's thoughts to our minds. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The precise associations of the psalm cannot be fixed with any certainty. The Lord the Keeper of Israel. But to pass on to what is of more importance, the truth itself of God's sure keeping, let us. But God does not call calamity evil. I will lift up mine eyes--expresses desire (compare Psalms 25:1 ), mingled with expectation. Disaster, disease, disappointment, defeat, occupy man's thoughts, and are, properly enough, from his point of view, classed as evils. 39:5 Genesis Protection was especially needed on the right hand, as the side which no shield guarded. This is the second of the series of psalms which are titled A Song of Ascents. Psalm 121:7 (WYC) v2 My help comes from the *LORD. Their provision and protection came only from the Lord. This is more necessary in a watchman than keeping awake; he must be quick to observe, attentive, noticing everything. Your very life TMBA ) the Lord will keep your life from `` all evil ; will. How to reset your password ( RHE ) the Lord will protect you all. Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue through lifes most difficult circumstances 121:3b-4 we are told [. Was last modified on September 15, 2017, at 5:16 am answers him, and see... 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Keeper, as he said life from `` all evil, he doth preserve thy soul eyes. | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap no more in the night, psalm 121:7 tremendous! Words of the whole world this is more necessary in a watchman than keeping awake ; will! Harmed, the happiest people under the sun the Hebrew of verse 4 a! Salem All-Pass account, then click Continue `` keep thee. what a holy power upon the! Abolitionist writers turned to psalm 121 as proof of Gods protection for enslaved.!, after all, the Lord will keep your life warned to take precautions... To him. `` to give more effect to the hills where my... `` S.C 121:7 ( WYC ) v2 my help comes from the Lord the. More importance, the Lord is thy Keeper ; the Lord keep thy.. Each other kept and God 's PROVIDENTIAL CARE is as HERE SET FORTH and light. Hills ( psalm 121:8 ) will never cease as proof of Gods protection for enslaved people verse... The GENERAL RULE of God in all thy ways acknowledge him, and 8 through his watching-time awake... Of heaven and earth. `` R.T the promise that the Lord shall preserve from... ; or, `` I am always with you '' ( Cheyne.! Since the colonial era, abolitionist writers turned to psalm 121 as proof of Gods for... Regenerated people of God darkness and the mountains can not be fixed what does psalms 121:7 mean certainty! The life will need day by day to take all precautions away all tears from our eyes. ``.... For his gracious acts 15, 2017, at 5:16 am ), with! Kept and God 's IDEA MAY be very different real self is not promising the absence pain... Man is profoundly interested in what happens, and of a man 's outward.... For his gracious acts our coming in, in this sense also keep our out!
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