Psalm 121 — I Lift My Eyes to the Hills

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. This is Psalm one hundred twenty-one. A song of ascent. Pilgrims sang it as they climbed the hills toward Jerusalem for the great feasts. The journey was dangerous. Bandits hid in the hills. The terrain was rough. The pilgrims sang of where their help came from. Tonight, I sing it too. I lift up my eyes to the hills. I look up. Out of myself. Out of the small problems that consume my attention. Up. Where help comes from. From where does my help come? Not from the hills themselves. The hills are just hills. The pagan religions of David's time worshipped on hilltops, treating the high places as gods. The Psalmist redirects. My help does not come from the hills. It comes from the One who made the hills. My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The Creator. The One who flung the stars into space. The One who shaped my body in my mother's womb. He is the source of my help. He will not let your foot be moved. The path is steep. The footing is uncertain. But He holds my feet. I will not slip catastrophically. He who keeps you will not slumber. He is awake. Right now. While I am about to sleep, He is awake. The sentinels of the world fall asleep at their posts. He never does. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The double emphasis. He never sleeps. I can sleep, because He is awake. The Lord is your keeper. The word in Hebrew is shomer. The watchman. The guardian. The protector. He is mine. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The right hand was the place of strength, of action. He shields me there. He protects what I am doing, not just where I am resting. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The dangers of midday and midnight. Both are watched. The Lord will keep you from all evil. Not from all difficulty. Not from all suffering. From all evil. The deep harm. The soul-destroying threats. He keeps me. He will keep your life. The deepest part of me. The eternal part. He will keep it. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in. Every departure. Every arrival. Every threshold. From this time forth and forevermore. I am kept, Lord. Tonight, in this house, You keep me. Tomorrow, when I leave, You will keep me. When I come home in the evening, You will keep me. When I die, You will keep me. When I rise on the last day, You will still be keeping me. I lift my eyes to You. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.