The Lord Keeps Watch Over You

Monday, September 11, 2023

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!  He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.  Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.  The Lord himself watches over you!  The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.  The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.  The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.  The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.  

Psalm 121:1-8

For more than two decades today’s date on the calendar brings remembrances of the coordinated attacks on American soil in 2001.  It also recalls other times when the sovereignty of our nation was tested.  By the late 1950’s Baby Boomers were losing sight of what happened at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  Memories fade as generations age-out.  However, as the 2^nd-Century church father, Tertullian, wrote of the church being persecuted by Roman emperors:   We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed. 

This strong belief spawned the ideas of freedom, which produced this nation, birthed in the blood struggle of revolution.  Renewed times of sacrifice are the hallmark of any nation committed to living free.  We enjoy freedom, but the cost is anything but cheap.

The same can be said about the freedom of a human soul.  Such freedom is not from tyrants of flesh-and-blood.  Rather it is the enslavement of human will, chains that restrain us from living as intended by our Creator. 

Genesis records that when God made Adam and Eve, He blessed them.  It was that first blessing which instilled in humankind the desire for freedom.  That remains our heritage and future…freedom in Christ. 

Today’s text views how God intended for that to work.  When we feel small, weak, or threatened, we look for help.  The mountains are symbols of great strength and endurance.  The Psalmist asks:  will help come from what I can see…those mountains which are forever?  The question is rhetorical, and implies the answer with the absurdity of piles of dirt, rocks, and trees providing help.  Those hills are beautiful, but impersonal; they are impassable hinderances to travelers, or beautiful reminders of home and majesty, but help is something that comes from the Lord who watches over us.

So, it is folly to look to mountains for help.  Rather it is Scripture’s intent to remind us to look past the gift of such majestic beauty like mountains, or freedom.  Look past the gift…all the way to the Giver, He who created, and gifted those mountains to the likes of us.  Governments and their programs are gifts to us of order, controlling what might be the mayhem of evil.  Other humans are capable of both good to help, and evil to harm.  Your own strength is a gift, and God expects you to use it for his divine and benevolent purposes.  But ultimately, you can depend on nothing more (or less) than the divine, loving heart of God, filled with compassion and love for you.

For You Today 

It is right for us to honor the lives lost on September 11^th.  And all lives taken too soon by wars and all sorts of evil.  It is a Godly thing to remember, and bless that memory. 

Let us also go further than ceremony; let continued resolve recall the source of our freedom:  He who watches over us without sleeping or skipping a beat.  It was His blood which bought freedom for the soul.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Images:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain. Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©