Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Lord Your Keeper: Help from the Maker of Heaven and Earth (Psalm 121) | Charles Spurgeon

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The Lord Your Keeper: Help from the Maker of Heaven and Earth (Psalm 121) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis, there
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is this expectation of absolute precision.
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Oh sure, it feels akin to engineering or something.
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Yeah, precisely. You fall, you hurt your arm, you
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go to the hospital and the X-ray shows that stark, jagged white
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line across the bone. You can see it right there.
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Right, the doctor just points to the illuminated screen and says,
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well, there is the problem. It is very binary.
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It is clinical. It is clean.
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It is either broken or not broken.
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And I mean, human beings find a huge amount of comfort in that
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binary state. Oh absolutely.
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We like our threats to be visible, to be categorized, and
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to be neatly boxed into a solution we can actually
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comprehend. But then you step out of the
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sterile clinic and into the wilderness of an actual life
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crisis. Shadows start to lengthen across
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your path. Yeah, and the threats become
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vague and ambiguous. Suddenly that metaphorical X-ray
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machine is completely useless to you.
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You are looking at a landscape that is murky to say the least.
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Right, you are surrounded by threats you cannot quantify, the
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terrain itself feels hostile and you are exhausted to your bones.
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Which is a terrifying place to be.
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It really is. So when you find yourself in
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that specific position, where do your eyes naturally go?
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Do you look down? Yeah, do you look down at the
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dangerous muddy path right at your feet, or do you look up?
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That is the big question. Well, welcome to Reformed
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thinking. Today, our mission for you is to
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unpack the theological and psychological layers of a single
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ancient song. Psalm 1/21.
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Spot on. To accomplish this, we're doing
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a deep dive into the massive, detailed commentary from Charles
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Spurgeon, specifically his magnum opus, The Treasury of
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David. And to grasp the gravity of this
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text, you have to mentally place yourself in the worn sandals of
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the people who are readily saying it centuries ago.
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Set the scene for. Us.
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Well, this specific Psalm is designated in the Scriptures as
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a song of degrees. OK, Historically, these were
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functional hymns for pilgrims making their arduous physical
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ascent to the high elevation of Jerusalem for the annual feast.
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So they were walking uphill for days.
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Yes, but Spudgeon points out something fascinating about the
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tone of this specific Psalm. What is that?
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He notes that if it were not explicitly placed among the
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Pilgrim Psalms, we would easily recognize it as a Marshall hymn.
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Like a military song. Yeah, it possesses the cadence
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of a song fitted for the even song of a soldier who is
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attempting to sleep on the tented field.
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Wow. Right in the middle of a literal
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war zone. So picture the geographical and
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historical backdrop in your mind.
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You know right? You are traveling with a large
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band of pilgrims. You have been walking for days
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through treacherous rocky terrain in the ancient Near
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East. And you are exhausted.
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Beyond exhausted, it is the final night watch.
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You are sitting by a dying fire, listening to the wind howl
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through the ravines. Just waiting for the sun to come
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up. Right, and you are looking out
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toward the dark silhouette of the mountains of Jerusalem
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before the final steep physical ascent begins tomorrow morning.
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That is the exact moment. Yeah, that specific threshold of
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anticipation and dread. That is where this song was
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meant to be sung. It is a moment of intense
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vulnerability. Very much so.
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And that vulnerability is what makes the opening line so
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arresting to the ear. Verse one begins, I will lift up
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mine eyes into the hills, from whence cometh my help?
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Such a famous line. It is, but we must contrast the
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physical realities of the valleys and the mountains in
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this ancient context. Right, because the valleys were
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not safe. Not at all.
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Dwellers in the valleys are subject to constant,
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debilitating disorders. Down below, in the marshy
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lowlands, the travelers are the easy prey of marauders.
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Bandits who use the high ground for ambushes.
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Spot on. The valleys are places of
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lethargy, stagnant air and sickness.
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So staying low is dangerous. Very dangerous.
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The only cure, the only safety from the threats below is a
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sojourn in the uplands. The mountains represent
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strongholds of security. Let us break down that physical
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reality because it is so counterintuitive to how we think
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today. How?
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So, well, if you are in a valley, you are a literal
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target. Anywhere on the high ground
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possesses a permanent tactical advantage over you.
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You are either looking up at the threats waiting for you, or
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you're looking down in despair at the mud.
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Right. I went over an analogy about
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physical dizziness to illustrate this.
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Let us hear it. If you have ever stood on a high
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ledge or or walked across a narrow suspension bridge and you
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make the mistake of looking straight down at your own feet,
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what happens? Your inner ear gets completely
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confused. Yes, you feel sick.
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You start to sway and you feel dangerously unsteady.
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The ground seems to rush up at your face.
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It is a terrible feeling. But if you lift your chin and
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fix your eyes on the fixed horizon on the distant immovable
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hills, your equilibrium returns. You find your balance.
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Right. I am curious how that
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physiological phenomenon relates to the spiritual despair
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Spurgeon talks about in this text.
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Well, that analogy translates perfectly to Spurgeon's
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historical analysis regarding a wounded conscience.
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OK, unpack that a bit. When you look downward at
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yourself, at your own internal spiritual state, you find
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nothing but things that increase your fear.
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Because we are flawed. Completely.
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When you look inward, what do you see?
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You see infinite sins, you see good deeds that are incredibly
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few and entirely imperfect. So looking down is discouraging.
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To say the least, looking downward at the deep Dale of
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your own unworthiness makes you giddy.
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You stagger and reel into despair.
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You are essentially staring at your feet while standing on a
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high ledge. Waiting to fall, basically.
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The text insists, and Reformed theology echoes this constantly,
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that we must look away from the self, right.
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It is not our own frail faithfulness that saves us, it
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is God's faithfulness we must rely upon.
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So lifting the eyes becomes an act of sheer survival.
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Yes it does. It is almost as if human nature
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or our adversaries want to keep our eyes bandaged and pointed
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straight down at our sorrows. So we become disquieted and
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paralyzed. Spot on, but the singer makes a
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conscious resolve to look out and look up.
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My question is, what are these hills representing?
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Well, it's not just dirt and rock.
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Right. When a believer lists their eyes
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in the middle of a crisis, what are they actually supposed to be
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looking at? It cannot just be geological
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formations. You are completely right.
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Spurgeon provides a highly specific theological list of
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what these spiritual hills represent.
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Let us hear the list. When the singer looks up, they
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are looking at the eternal purposes of God.
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They are looking at the divine attributes.
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His omniscience, His omnipotence.
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Yes, His justice and His mercy. They are looking at the
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immutable promises found in Scripture.
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That makes sense. They are looking at the covenant
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of grace, which is ordered in all things entirely sure.
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They are looking at Providence and at predestination.
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Those doctrines are the eternal hills.
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Right help comes to the Saints only from above.
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Looking to human institutions, personal wealth or internal
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willpower is looking in vain. But hold on, there's a scholarly
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debate about the translation and the grammar of verse one that
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flips this assumption on its head, does it not?
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Yes, there is. Some scholars suggest that first
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line might actually be an interrogative a question rather
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than a statement of confidence. Yeah, that is a brilliant nuance
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to bring into the conversation. Instead of a declarative
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statement, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.
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A very robust linguistic argument can be made that it
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should be read as a question. Shall I lift up mine eyes to the
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hills? That changes the flavor of the
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entire opening. It really does.
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If it is a question, the singer is looking at the highest places
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on Earth, the literal mountains, and realizing that even those
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massive geological formations cannot offer real shelter.
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Right. They're essentially asking,
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should I look to the hills for recruits?
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Will Hardy Mountaineers hasten to my standard to save me?
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And the implied answer is a resounding no.
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Earthly hills, no matter how majestic, are insufficient.
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Wow. If we read it as a question, it
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prompts the realization in verse 2, which answers the dilemma
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definitively. My help cometh from the Lord
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which made heaven and earth. Spot on.
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True help does not come from the creation, it comes from the
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creator of the creation. Trusting the creator is always
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wiser than trusting the creature.
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Spurgeon highlights that if Jehovah created all things out
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of nothing, he is more than equal to every human emergency.
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That is a staggering thought. He will sooner destroy boy,
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heaven and earth, then permit his chosen people to be
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destroyed. The perpetual hills themselves
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will bow and crumble before the Maker allows his promise to
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fail. Exactly.
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So we have established that looking up, looking to the
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Creator, establishes the cosmic source of our help, right?
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But I have a practical problem with this.
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What is that? How does that cosmic heavenly
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help manifest in the literal physical steps we take on the
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muddy ground? It is a fair question.
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I mean, it's great to know God made the universe, but what
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about when I am walking through a dangerous ravine and my boots
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are slipping? That highly practical problem is
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the actual issue addressed in verse three.
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He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.
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OK. We must understand the physical
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reality of mountainous Canaan to appreciate this.
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The pilgrims were not walking on a paved level sidewalk.
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Far from it. The paths of life in those
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Highlands among the steep limestone ravines of Palestine
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were phenomenally dangerous. A single slip of the foot on
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loose screen could bring sudden, fatal disaster.
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Right, falling into a ravine meant a broken leg, which in the
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ancient world miles from civilization, was a death
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sentence. The phrase sliding of the foot
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shows up frequently in ancient literature as a description of
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complete, lasting misfortune. It was a very common fear.
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And this is a synecdoche, correct?
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A figure of speech where a part of something represents the
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whole. Yes, it is a classic synec
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decay. If the foot represents the whole
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body, and the body represents our entire outward estate and
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well-being, what does this actually mean for our daily
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physical preservation? Well, think about it.
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A person cannot go anywhere without moving their feet, and a
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person cannot stand their ground if their feet are violently
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moved from under them. The commentary explains that
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standing erect is a blessing only God can give.
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It is a boon of priceless value that we entirely take for
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granted. We really do.
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If the foot is kept secure, the head and the heart are preserved
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as well. We just assume we can stand up.
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Yeah, we assume that standing upright and walking through our
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day is our own doing, but pursuing the even tenor of our
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way is a divine gift. That shifts the perspective
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completely. And what is fascinating here is
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the original Hebrew construction.
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The phrase actually expresses A wish or a fervent prayer.
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May he not suffer thy foot to be moved.
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Wait, if it is a prayer that implies a lack of certainty,
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how? So.
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Well, if God has already promised to keep our feet from
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slipping, why does the text frame it as a perpetual prayer
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for the believer? Should we not just rest on the
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promise and stop asking? That touches on a core element
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of Reformed theology regarding prayer.
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We do not pray to inform God of our needs, nor do we pray to
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change His eternal mind. We pray to align our hearts with
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His decreed will. So promised preservation should
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be the subject of constant dependent prayer.
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Spot on. We pray believing because those
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who have God for their keeper shall certainly be safe, but the
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act of praying keeps us conscious of our dependence.
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It stops us from getting arrogant.
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Yes, if we connect this to the bigger picture of our
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adversaries, we see a massive contrast.
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Many enemies, spiritual and physical, strike at our heels to
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trip us up. They desperately want to see us
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violently cast down. But they cannot succeed while
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God holds us up. Our feet will move forward in
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progress, but they will not be moved to their overthrow.
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So God hold us up while we are actively walking.
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He sustains our forward momentum, Correct, but forward
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eventually has to stop. What happens when The Walking
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ceases? You have to sleep.
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Right. What happens when we are forced
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by our biology to rest, which is the time we are most vulnerable?
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That shifts the discussion to verses 3 and 4.
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He that keepeth thee will not slumber.
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Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
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We need to mentally reconstruct the historical reality of night
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guards in Eastern camps during this era to grasp the weight of
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those words. Set the scene.
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A moving camp of pilgrims or soldiers is pitched in strange,
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hostile fields. It is absolutely necessary to
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have a nocturnal guardian to watch for bandits or wild
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animals. Obviously.
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The typical method to secure vigilance from a hired guard was
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to require the man to call out loudly or blow a whistle every
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quarter of an hour. But the undeniable reality is
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that human bodies, no matter how disciplined, get tired.
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Extremely tired, right? As soon as the heavy blanket of
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sleep falls on the camp, the hireling paper often lies down
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on the coal ground, wraps his thick woolen cloak around
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himself and yields to physical weariness.
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And the silent thief can easily break in while the guard dreams.
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Exactly. The vulnerability of sleep is
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terrifying when you stop and really think about it.
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It is. You could be the strongest, most
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capable warrior on earth. You could be a billionaire with
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private security details, right? But the moment your brain
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chemistry shifts, you close your eyes and you enter REM sleep,
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you are completely defenseless. You are entirely at the mercy of
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your environment and the goodwill of others.
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Spurgeon includes some incredible historical anecdotes
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in the text that illustrate the peace of having a sleepless
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guard. Can we walk through those?
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Sure, the source material provides 3 distinct, vivid
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illustrations of this exact kind of intense peace.
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Let's hear the first one. The first involves the legendary
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military leader Alexander the Great.
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It is recorded by historians that he was sleeping soundly and
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securely in his tent right before a massive, highly
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dangerous battle. With the enemy right outside.
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Yes, his aides were frantic. When asked how he could possibly
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sleep so deeply with so much imminent threat around him, he
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gave a very simple answer. What did he say?
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He simply replied that he could sleep because his loyal general
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Parmenio was awake and watching over him.
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Wow, he trusted his earthly guard entirely.
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Enough to shut off his own situational awareness.
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Yes, what is the second illustration?
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The second illustration is a famous Eastern story about the
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Sultan's justice. I love this one.
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The story tells of a poor, destitute woman who was robbed
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of her few possessions while she slept.
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She goes directly to the Sultan and demands compensation for her
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lost property. Right.
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The monarch, somewhat incredulous, asks her.
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Why did you fall asleep in such a dangerous area?
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Which is a logical question. And the woman replies with
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incredible boldness. I fell asleep because I believed
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that you were awake. That is amazing.
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The Sultan was so delighted with her answer, her absolute
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reliance on the wakeful justice of the Crown, that he ordered
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her entire loss to be made-up from his own treasury.
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That is a fascinating legal fiction for human governments,
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assuming the state never sleeps and sees every crime right?
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But it is absolute reality for the divine government.
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God actually sees the thief in the night.
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Precisely the point Spurgeon makes.
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And the third illustration. The third is incredibly tender,
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focusing on domestic trust. It is about a sea captain's
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daughter. OK, a captain had his family on
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board his vessel sailing across the Atlantic from Liverpool to
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New York. One night a sudden, violent
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squaw struck the ship. A.
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Huge storm. Yes, it threw the massive vessel
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on its side, crashing everything in the cabins, waking all the
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passengers and sheer terror. I would be terrified.
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Everyone is springing from their berths, screaming, genuinely
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thinking they are going to drown in the dark right?
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But the captain's 8 year old daughter wakes up, looks at the
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panic and asks just one question.
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Is father on deck? Yes, when the terrified
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passengers tell her yes, her father is on deck commanding the
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ship, she simply drops her head back on her pillow and goes
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right back to sleep in the middle of the raging storm.
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Because she knows the character and the capability of the one
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keeping watch exactly. She does not need to understand
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the aerodynamics of the sails or the buoyancy of the hull.
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She just needs to know her father is awake.
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Yes, and theologically, the text links this concept directly back
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to the patriarch Jacob. At Bethel.
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Think about Jacob fleeing his father's house after deceiving
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his brother Esau. He is a fugitive.
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He is sleeping defenseless in the open air.
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He literally has stones for a pillow.
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There are no walls, no curtains, no hired bodyguard, yet he was a
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safe as if you were locked inside an iron castle because
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God was present in that desolate place.
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The God who later said to him, I am with thee, and will keep thee
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in all places, right? God is not a hireling watchman
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who gets tired and clocks out. He is the sovereign owner of the
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flock. He has a vested intro.
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He watches his people with the intense vigilance of a rich man
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keeping his treasures or a royal guard keeping a monarch's head.
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This constant waking supervision is immensely comforting.
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It really is. But it raises a significant
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question of scale for me. What do you mean?
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Well, is God just watching the whole camp generally, like a
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watchman looking at a crowd, or is he watching you specifically?
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Verse 4 talks about keeping Israel in the plural, the whole
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nation. But then verse 5 shifts gears
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entirely. It says the Lord is thy keeper,
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the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
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That grammatical shift from the plural nation to the intensely
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personal individual is a massive focal point in Spursions
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commentary. It is very deliberate.
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The preserving 1 is distinctly named and personalized here.
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Jehovah is thy keeper. Not our keeper, but thy keeper.
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Yes, Spurgeon, with his usual rhetorical brilliance, says this
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sentence is a mass of solid bullion, and when it is coined
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and stamped with the King's own name, it will bear all our
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expenses between our birthplace on earth and our final rest in
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heaven. It is intensely personal.
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And we must unpack that title, Jehovah.
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When God is given titles and Scripture, those titles function
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as virtual promises to the believer.
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But guarantees. Right.
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If he is called a son, it means he will permanently influence
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and warm us. If he is called a shield, it
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means he will actively protect us.
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So the title implies the action. Yes, here Jehovah assumes a
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gracious office and fulfills it in person.
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He is not delegating your preservation to lower angels or
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natural forces. He himself, the great I am, is
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the keeper. I want to focus on the specific
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geography of this protection mentioned in the verse upon thy
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right hand. It is an interesting phrase.
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I struggle to understand why it specifies the right hand instead
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of just saying all around you. Let us use an analogy from
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ancient combat or a heavy manual labor.
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OK, let us hear it. If you are a soldier swinging a
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sword or stone Mason swinging a hammer, yeah, you are
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overwhelmingly likely to be using your right arm.
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Because most people are right-handed.
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Right is the arm doing the heavy lifting, stepping out into the
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fray, engaging the foe. Because it is extended, it is
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the most exposed part of your body.
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That makes sense. Your left arm An arm might be
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tucked behind a shield, but your right arm is out in the open.
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The text implies that the member with the most labor and the most
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exposure receives the most protection.
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So God acts as a shield right where the fight is actually
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happening. Yes.
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Is that a fair reading of the text?
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That is a highly accurate reading of the cultural context.
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The commentary notes that divine goodness must be toned down and
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shaded to suit our human infirmity.
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We cannot bear the full, unfiltered weight of divine
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glory. Right.
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So God shades it for us. He deliberately guards the right
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arm with which we fight our daily battles.
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We also need to discuss the literal physical meaning of
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shade in these ancient Eastern countries.
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Yes, it is very different from our modern context.
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When we hear the word shade today, we think of sitting under
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a nice oak tree on a warm suburban afternoon with a glass
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of iced tea. It is a luxury.
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But in this biblical context, shade is a brutal matter of life
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and death. Absolutely.
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The text explicitly mentions the coup de Soleil or sunstroke.
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It was a very real threat. In the ancient Near East, the
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sun's burning midday rays are literally described in their
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literature as flaming arrows inflicting premature death.
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To be caught in the open desert at noon without cover was fatal.
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So God acting as a shade means he is a portable, impenetrable
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scream against a lethal threat. He stays closer to the believer
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than their own physical shadow. The commentary notes that God is
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as near us as our shadow, and because of that proximity, we
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are as safe as angels in heaven. So God protecting the Pilgrim
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from the blazing, lethal sun makes logical sense to our
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modern minds. We understand UV rays and heat
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stroke, right? But the text goes on in verse 6
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to mention something that sounds completely bizarre, almost
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superstitious to modern ears. The sun shall not smite thee by
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day, nor the moon by night. The concept of the moon smiting
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you. I am genuinely fascinated by
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this historical concept of moon stroke.
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It is a strange one for us. Modern people do not worry about
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the moon hurting them. We take romantic moonlight
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walks. We do not hide indoors when the
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moon is full. Right.
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We might joke about lunatics, but we do not fear physical
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harm. So what are the bizarre are
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historical accounts from the text regarding the moon's
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physical effects that Spurgeon details?
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Well, we have to remember the harsh environment they lived in.
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In the cloudless skies of the East, the moon shines with
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exceeding clearness and intensity.
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Much brighter than we see it here.
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Yes, the text includes specific documented accounts from sailors
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and natives who deeply feared the moon's rays.
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Like what, for instance, a naval officer relates a story of
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frantically waking up young sailors who would fallen asleep
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on the deck, exposed to the direct moonlight.
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Why? What was he afraid of?
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Because sleeping in the moonlight in those regions was
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widely known to cause the muscles of the mouth to be
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violently drawn to one side. Akin to Bell's Palsy.
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Right, and the site to be temporarily or permanently
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injured. People genuinely believe the
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moon worsened fevers and brought on severe rheumatic diseases.
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That is wild. The text even quotes
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Shakespeare, noting that the moon washes the air and makes
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rheumatic diseases abound. So they took intense
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precautions, cautionary measures.
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The commentary mentions men covering their heads and faces
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with thick clothes while sleeping outside.
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Specifically so the moon wouldn't strike them.
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Whether it was the actual light of the moon or the severe chill
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and dampness of the night air that naturally accompanied the
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clear moonlight, the threat was considered entirely real and
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terrifying. Yes, on a literal physical
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level, the promise is preservation from excessive
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daytime heat and from painful nighttime chills.
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But there is a bigger picture here.
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If we connect this to the bigger theological picture, we have to
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look at the mystical and spiritual applications Spurgeon
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draws out. What are these two great
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luminaries represent in human experience?
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Oh, what do you? Day and night, the entirety of
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human time. Correct the Sun and the Moon
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rule all time. So to boldly state that the Sun
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and Moon will not smite you is to say you are comprehensively
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protected at all times in every shifting circumstance.
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That was beautiful. Mystically, the commentary
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explains that they represent protection from the severe
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extremes of life. The blinding glare of massive
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prosperity is the sun. The damp, chilling, isolating
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effect of severe adversity is the moon.
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That is a remarkably striking image.
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We usually only think of adversity as dangerous.
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We do, but. Prosperity can blind you to your
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need for God just as quickly as adversity can freeze your faith.
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A man can be destroyed by winning the lottery just as
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thoroughly as he could be destroyed by bankruptcy.
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That is very true. Furthermore, Spurgeon applies
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this to the effects of doctrine in the Church.
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How does that work? There is doctrine that is overly
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bright, speculative and blinding, focusing so much on
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the unsearchable decrees of God that it burns out and
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responsibility. Like staring into the sun.
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Right. And then there is doctrine that
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is excessively dim and cold, mere moralism without the warmth
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of the gospel. The cold moonlight.
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Yes, God protects the believer soul from being destroyed by
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both extremes. The power to permanently smite
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the soul is completely removed from these temporal agencies.
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So the believer is actually enriched, not injured by the
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powers that govern the earth's condition.
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Spot on. I have to push back here though.
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Go ahead. If God promises to protect
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believers from these specific daytime threats and these
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specific nighttime threats, what about the threats that do not
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fit neatly into those two categories?
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The. Outliers.
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Right. What about the unknown?
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What about cancer or economic collapse or a car accident?
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That leads us to the ultimate security clause in verses 7 and
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8. The Lord shall preserve thee
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from all evil, preserve thy going out and thy coming in.
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Right? But we know believers still
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experience evil. How does Spurgeon reconcile this
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massive promise with the reality of Christian suffering?
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This is the climax of the Psalms ascent, and it is where a
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reformed theology shines in its handling of suffering.
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The song reaches its greatest elevation of restful confidence
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right here. How so?
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To answer your question, we have to look at the specific
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phrasing. The text says He shall preserve
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thy soul. I want to introduce an analogy
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from the text about a lawyer drawing up a contract to set
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this up. Let us hear it.
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When a skilled lawyer sits down to draft a comprehensive
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agreement, they will insert highly specific clauses for
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specific emergencies. They'll write a clause for fire,
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a clause for theft, a clause for flood.
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Standard practice. But knowing they cannot possibly
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predict every single bizarre emergency that might occur over
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a lifetime, they always include a general comprehensive catch
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all statement. To cover anything intentionally
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or unintentionally left out. Like a force majeure clause, the
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Lord shall preserve thee from all evil is God's divine catch
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all clause for the believer. And it is absolute.
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There are no human conditions annexed to it.
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It covers everything and excludes nothing.
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It is entirely comprehensive. The wings of Jehovah guard his
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own from evils great and small, temporary and eternal.
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But returning to your point about Christians experiencing
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suffering, notice the focus of the preservation.
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Right, verse 7 specifically zeroes in.
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He shall preserve thy soul. Soul keeping is the soul of
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keeping. That is such a brilliant phrase
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from Spurgeon. It really is.
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The preservation of the greater includes that of the less only
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so far as it benefits the main design.
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He uses the analogy of a kernel and a shell.
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I love this analogy. The kernel, the eternal soul, is
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kept absolutely safe. The shell, the physical body,
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the bank account, the earthly reputation is only preserved so
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far as it serves the growth and safety of the kernel.
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So if cracking the shell says, the kernel God will allow the
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shell to be cracked. Precisely, our soul is kept from
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the ultimate dominion of sin, from the fatal infection of
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heresy, and from the puffing up of pride.
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The evil of the evil is removed. Right.
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A Christian might get sick, but the sickness will not separate
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them from God, rather it will be used to conform them to Christ
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therefore, or it ceases to be ultimate evil.
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Let us talk about the linguistic detail here, because the
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original Hebrew does something very deliberate that we miss in.
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English. The repetition.
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Yeah, the Hebrew word for keep or preserve, shamar is repeated
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over and over in the short text. It is repeated 6 times in these
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final verses alone. That is a lot.
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The root of shamar implies throwing a hedge of thorns
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around something to guard it fiercely.
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Why the intense repetition? God only needs to say something
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once for it to be true. The commentary explains that
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this doubling and redoubling serves as a necessary divine
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remedy for human nature. We need it beaten into our
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heads. We really do when things go well
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in our lives. Human nature is incredibly prone
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to self credit. We sacrifice to our own net, as
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the prophets say. We kiss our own hand as if our
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own power, our own intellect, or our own discipline helped us.
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And conversely, when things go poorly, we are prone to massive
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irrational distrust. We tremble at the mere noise of
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a falling leaf. Exactly.
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The repetition of Shamar Keep, Preserve, Guard cures our
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natural diffidence and establishes the absolute
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certainty of the promise. It drills it into our thick
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heads. God is not content to speak at
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once. He repeats it until the rhythm
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of his protection drowns out the rhythm of our panic.
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That is a great way to say it. And the theological conclusion
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of all this is wrapped up in the final phrase from this time
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forth, and even forever more. We have a threefold repetition
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of shall keep in this final section.
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The Lord shall preserve thee, He shall preserve thy soul.
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The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in.
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The commentary notes that this mirrors the Trinity sealing the
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Word, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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What human anxiety can possibly survive this trip people
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promise? Nothing can.
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This explicitly guarantees the doctrine of the final
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perseverance of the Saints. Meaning those kept by God cannot
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be lost. Their exits and their entrances,
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going out in youth to begin the great expedition of life and
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coming in at the end of their days to die, are under 1
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eternal, unbroken protection. Yes, the Westminster Confession
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teaches that those whom God has accepted in His beloved,
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effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can
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neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace.
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And this Psalm is the poetic heartbeat of that exact
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doctrine. The glorious immortality of
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believers is guaranteed by the character of the Keeper, not the
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strength of the kept. It is all about who is doing the
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keeping. Right under the aegis of such an
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ironclad promise, a person can go on a pilgrimage without
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trembling. They can venture into terrifying
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battles without dread. Because they know how it ends.
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No one is as safe as those whom God actively keeps, and no one
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is in as much danger as the self secure man who thinks he can
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keep himself. Think about what that actually
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means for your daily mundane life it.
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Changes everything. If the Creator of the universe
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is closer to you than your own physical shadow and has signed a
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divine catch all contract to preserve your eternal soul from
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the dominion of all evil forever, how does that alter the
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way you step out of your front door tomorrow morning?
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It should alter it entirely. Consider how the sheer rock
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solid certainty of the ending should utterly eradicate the
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breathless anxiety of the present moment.
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There is no reason to panic. None.
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So the next time you find yourself walking through a dark
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valley and the shadows are lengthening and the threat seem
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overwhelming, remember where to look.
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Do not look down at the dizzying drop beneath your feet.
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Look up. Look out.
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Lift your eyes to the hills. Because that is where your help
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comes from.