PSALM 121:
The Vision of the Lord -
The One Who Keeps Us for His Testimony
Leaving the World and Coming to God
Psalm 121 begins, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where will my help come? My help comes from Jehovah, who made heaven and earth" (v. 1-2). We received a vision from the previous psalm that the world is a constitution of lies and vanity. Once we see through the world we have no other choice but to come to God. In Psalm 121 we come to the very God who is the Maker of heaven and earth. Leaving the world behind, we begin our spiritual ascent up Mount Zion.
The Lord Will Not Let Us Fall Back into the World
"He will not let your foot slip; He who keeps you will not slumber" (v. 3). When we come to the Lord, He will not let our foot slip. This means that once we come to the Lord, He has a "keeping" power. For our foot to slip means to go back to the world. The Lord will keep us from sliding back to the world. When we see the world with all its emptiness, we come to cry out to God. When we come to Him, what happens? Praise the Lord, He keeps us! He secures us! We have all had this experience. Even though we love the Lord, we have tried to go back to the world. Yet this very Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth, would not allow our foot to slip.
Furthermore, "He who keeps you will not slumber." Our God does not go to sleep. Sometimes we may think, "Lord, You are keeping me today, but tomorrow, when You are napping, I will sneak back to the world." But the Lord is still with us. He doesn't stop guarding us. He keeps us from falling back into the world. Shouldn't we be so thankful to the Lord? The One who guards us and keeps us does not slumber. He will not allow our foot to slip back into the world. Even if we try to return to the world, He will say, "No. I am keeping you."
The Lord is the Keeper of Israel - His Testimony
The psalmist continues, "Behold, Israel's Keeper will neither slumber nor sleep" (v. 4). We must realize that the Lord's keeping of us is not for our sake. At first we may think, "He keeps my foot." But eventually we realize, "He is keeping Israel." He is not keeping a person, He is keeping a testimony. He is not keeping us for our own sake, He is keeping us for His testimony's sake. Such a realization means that we are ascending in our experience and understanding. When we are young in the Lord, we feel many times that we are being kept for our own sake. After we have a little growth in life, we begin to realize, "No, this is not for me. This is for His testimony. He is keeping me for His testimony's sake." This is a spiritual "ascent." We not only ascend out of the world, we not only ascend into Christ, but we also ascend into the very desire of God. We begin to realize, "My God is a God of purpose. My God has a desire. My God has something to accomplish - that is, His testimony." At such a moment we have had some ascending. Our Lord is the Lord that keeps Israel. This One shall never slumber nor sleep.
The Lord Becomes Our Rest
When We Live For His Testimony and Exalt Him
After saying that Jehovah is the Keeper of Israel, the psalmist goes on to say, "Jehovah is your Keeper; Jehovah is your shade at your right hand" (v. 5). This is such a restful word. When we are still living for ourselves it seems that sometimes the Lord keeps us, and other times He does not. Of course, He is still keeping us regardless of what we may think. But once we are no longer living for ourselves and instead are living for the Lord's testimony, then we become peaceful and restful. We realize that His keeping of us is not merely a matter of our personal struggles as a Christian. He is not keeping us so that we would have a victory or become spiritually prevailing. He is not keeping us for our own sake. Instead, He is keeping us for the sake of His testimony. We should all learn to be joyful. We should enjoy the fact that our Lord keeps us. We should realize, "I am being kept not for my own sake, but for the church in my locality's sake. Praise the Lord, He is keeping me for the sake of His testimony." Such a keeping is truly glorious.
This verse also says, "Jehovah is your shade at your right hand" (v. 5) With this kind of keeping we know how to put the Lord in the proper place. In the Bible "the right hand" is the place of exalting. To have the Lord on our right hand means that we exalt Him. It means that we say, "Now You really are my Lord." At the beginning of this psalm the writer lifted up his eyes to the hills for help. This was actually still quite low. But now he has grown to the point where the Lord is at his right hand. The Lord is exalted. When we have a proper understanding of the Lord's keeping we will know how to exalt Him. Then He will be at our right hand, where He becomes our shade. When we exalt the Lord and give Him the highest place, He becomes "the shade at our right hand." He becomes our rest. Not only are we kept by Him, but He gives us grace, mercy, comfort, and strength. Our whole life becomes one of enjoyment because we have exalted Him.
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The Lord will Be Our Protection
"The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night" (v. 6). This is a simple testimony from the psalmist. It means that in God's creation we will be protected. The psalmist continues, "Jehovah will keep you from all evil; He will keep your soul" (v. 7). This means that Satan will not be able to do that much against us. Also, the Lord will keep our soul. This indicates that even we will not be able to do too much damage to ourselves. The Lord will protect us in these three ways: from His natural creation, from the evil of Satan, and from ourselves. Sometimes we try to forget the Lord and do something which is actually self-destructive. But even when we manage to do something self-destructive, such as losing our temper, eventually we still come back to the Lord and repent. This shows that the Lord still keeps us. Then the psalmist says, "Jehovah will keep your going out and your coming in from now and to eternity" (v. 8). The Lord even protects our walk, our going out and our coming in. The Lord gives us all the protection we need to keep us for His testimony.
Our Vision of the Lord Causes Us to Trust in Him
We surely have a marvelous Lord, who keeps us in every way for His economy. We can have such a strong and solid trust in Him. We trust in Him not only as our Creator but as the One who keeps us for His testimony. This is the second vision, the vision concerning the Lord. Now we begin to see a clear picture. As those who are ascending Mount Zion in our spiritual experience we must first see such a vision as described in these two psalms. We should all be able to say, "I see the world. It is full of lies and deceit. It is full of vain and empty prosperity, and full of religious hypocrisy. I have nothing to do with this. But I also know my Lord. He will not let my foot slip back into the world. He is not only my Keeper but the Keeper of Israel. He keeps me not only for my sake but for the sake of His testimony. Because of this, all my trust is in Him." May we all see such a vision. Praise the Lord!
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