The Lord my Keeper Rev. A. A. Brugge - Psalm 121 Sing: Psalter 233:1, 2 Read: Psalm 121 Sing: Psalter 445:1, 2, 3 Sing: Psalter 128:1, 2 Sing: Psalter 445:4 With the help of the Lord we wish to meditate on Psalm 121. This Psalm focuses our attention on: The Lord our Keeper; and we wish to consider four thoughts: 1. A mighty Keeper; 2. A watchful Keeper; 3. A protecting Keeper; 4. A perfect Keeper. 1. A mighty Keeper Dear congregation, where are you travelling to on your journey through this life? This is an important question. In Psalm 121, which was read to you, we read about the journey of the pilgrims who went up to the temple in Jerusalem three times a year to celebrate the three main Jewish feasts. They longed to go to Jerusalem. The journey of the people of Israel had already begun a long time before these organized celebrations in Jerusalem. Long before the temple of Jerusalem had been built. Yes, even before the tabernacle had been erected in Shiloh. At that time there had been One Who asked, “Should My presence go with thee on the journey?” And Moses had answered, “If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” I wish to ask you once again: what is the purpose of your journey through this life? When you consider this question, do not only think about what you intend to achieve in your life. Consider that one day your life’s journey will come to an end, and that this end could possibly come very unexpectedly. We do not know the day or the hour www.sermonweb.org

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

of our death, congregation. We do not know when our end shall be or what the circumstances of our death will be. But one thing is certain: one day our life’s journey will end! Has it therefore become your daily prayer, “If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence”? Not with a selfish desire for a comfortable and safe life but because you know that, if the Lord goes with you, then you are safe indeed. “Although tens of thousands may fall at my side, yet evil shall not come nigh me.” And so we travel, knowing that “Tho’ many thousands compass me; Unmoved my soul remains’ -as the poet of Psalm 3 sings. These thoughts serve as the prelude to this worship service, in which we intend to consider Psalm 121. Just like Psalm 120, Psalm 121 is a pilgrim’s song. It is one of the Songs of Degrees, a song of ascension, to be sung during the pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. Do you know what it is that the poet prays for in this Psalm? Remember, those pilgrims came from far away, from Mesech, all the way from the tents of Kedar; an overwhelming distance. As we saw in the previous sermon, this distance is a picture of the immense, spiritual expanse that lies between God and us. So under these circumstances, what do you think can be considered reliable? What can offer a solid foundation? The vain words of men? Is that what you build your reliance upon? Then your expectations are nothing more than fantasy. So then I will ask you again, what does the poet of Psalm 121 pray for? What does he confess? Without any hesitation he openly confesses his hope’s reliance, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” Psalm 125 says that mountains surround Jerusalem. Mountains can be very impressive. Jerusalem, that elevated, impressive and beautiful city is surrounded by mountains and hills. It is to these hills that the poet of Psalm 121 says that he lifts his eyes, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” It is because on one of those hills the

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

Temple of God is built. On one of those hills the Lord wanted to be worshiped and He had chosen one of those hills as the place for the temple building. Congregation, picture these pilgrims as they come to Jerusalem. They come from all over, from far and near, to the elevated city of Jerusalem. They can’t wait till the temple comes into view. They intensely long to be in the place where the LORD, the holy God, is willing to dwell in the midst of an unholy people, by means of the blood of reconciliation. That is the reason why the poet verbalizes his expectation and says, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” We hear in these words something of the longing, the homesickness, of the pilgrim. These words enable us to read his thoughts: “The LORD’s dwelling place will be my dwelling place. That is the home I long for, the place of rest and peace.” The pilgrim does not vision this rest and peace to be found on the hill tops as such. No, his hope is in the God Who has made those hills. His hand created it all out of nothing. The mountains and the hills show something of His great power and strength. Yet, the pilgrim does not only look upon God’s common power which rules this world in all things, great and small, but he looks beyond that. Much more precious for him is this: “My help comes from the LORD alone.” Only from the LORD! Can you sense the desire of the poet that comes through in these words? Congregation, let us stop for a moment and look into the mirror here. Do we still expect it from ourselves, or is our expectation from the Lord alone, from the God Who made the hills and the mountains, but in particular the God Who had the Temple built in Jerusalem? Who instituted the ministry of reconciliation? Is your help from Him alone? These questions ask for an honest answer. Where does your help come from? From your life’s experiences; from the good contract your employer offered you? What is your soul’s expectation, beloved? From where will your help come for your sin-blackened soul? Or do you only consider your religious outside? However beautiful you think that may be, do realize that you will have to give an account to God one day. Where will your help come from then?

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

Beloved, do not put off until next year to think upon these matters. Maybe you say, “I have too many worries at the present time. There are so many things I still have to do. I’ll think about it later.” Oh, I wish to impress this question upon your heart: “Where will your help come from today?” Do you really dare to say, “Later; I will seek the help of the Lord later! Then I will delight myself in His service.” Oh, do not sooth yourself into a false rest with the thought that things will eventually turn out well. Is there in your heart the desire to know Him? In our day we so quickly say, “What’s in it for me? What does it profit me?” Hence, you may perhaps say to me: “Desire to know Him? That would be wonderful, but then I also want to know for certain that I will be saved and that I will experience reconciliation with God in Christ.” I would like to answer you that indeed you will profit greatly if you will learn to desire these treasures in truth. Therefore, boys and girls, young and old, can I not entice you to become interested in these precious treasures, just like this pilgrim? Dear congregation, we have departed from God. The fault does not lie with God. Or do you still blame God? Know that this blaming God takes many shapes and forms, that it has many masks. We do not find such thoughts in the heart of this pilgrim. No! He is on his way back to the Lord, he returns unto Him - a keyword in true conversion. That is his desire -to return unto the Lord! It wells up within him from the deepest recesses of his heart. His heart yearns for Him, he longs to go back to the Lord…never again to stray farther away, no longer making the distance bigger. Beloved, departing more and more from the Lord leads to the abyss of eternal ruin. I beseech you: stop going along with the world, because then your soul will surely suffer shipwreck. Do not close your ears dear children and older ones! Listen attentively: with the Lord is reconciliation! Even at this very moment the Lord says to you, “I have no pleasure in your death, but that you would turn and live!” Are you never jealous of the treasures of God’s children? Truly being jealous of God’s children is quite different from just parroting them or trying to imitate them. I www.sermonweb.org

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

wish that you would become really jealous of the great blessedness of God’s children. Such coveting is not prohibited in the tenth commandment! It does not fall under the commandment, “Thou shalt not covet”. You most assuredly may be jealous of their desire and longing to return unto the Lord. The Lord, however, is free to choose the way in which He accomplishes that. My spirit longs, yea, even faints Thy sacred courts to see My thirsting heart and flesh cry out O living God, for Thee. This pilgrim longs for the temple court and for the temple service. He trusts that he will indeed arrive there safely, and is convinced that the LORD, the Triune God, will take care of that. After all, the Lord is the unchangeable God. He is the “I AM THAT I AM!” Children sometimes ask me: “How do you actually know if you really expect everything only from the Lord?” I tell them that then you ask the Lord for all your daily needs in everything, every single day. Not only when you are in church. No, every day! That longing to serve Him permeates your whole life. In this precious pilgrim’s song we hear the pilgrim praise his mighty Keeper. Who is this Keeper? It is the Lord Himself. In this song you can hear a genuine, pure love in the yearning as verbalized by the pilgrim. There is so much sweetness in seeking the Lord. The realization that he will soon stand in that court, there by the altar, and will see the shed blood of reconciliation gives true joy. That place is the only place where he can find everything that he needs. Have you ever seen something of the preciousness of this place? And is it your experience that it is also possible for you? “My help cometh from the LORD.” These words signify also that this Helper, this Keeper never puts to shame. Over and over again the Lord gives His help and guidance. Maybe this is for the eightieth time in your life after you have strayed and wandered off the path of life seventy-nine times already! At this eightieth time you www.sermonweb.org

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desperately need His help again. Where else could your help come from? “Lord, Thou knowest who it is who comes to Thee to beg Thee for Thy help. Thou knowest who it is that again needs Thy guidance. I am so inclined to wander and stray all the time. Therefore my expectation and help is from Thee alone.” 2. A watchful Keeper The pilgrims are coming closer to Jerusalem. The temple mount may not yet be visible among the other hill tops. The land they walk through is full of rocks and the paths are between rocky outcrops. Today there are wide asphalt roads; often two lane and many four lane highways. But in those days the paths were narrow and they went right along deep ravines and precipices. What would be the consequences if the pilgrim stumbled and broke his leg, or even worse, fell down a cliff? What would be the result then? In that case the pilgrim would not be able to fulfil his pilgrimage. But what about the reconciliation you ask? Wasn’t that what the pilgrim was after, that he longed for? Didn’t he want to get to the temple court, to the altar, especially for that cause? That is indeed the case, but the way that leads to it is very narrow. (Do you see now how that the picture of this pilgrim becomes very practical and real?) Throngs of pilgrims are on their way to the temple court, to the altar, to the ministry of reconciliation, to the blood of the covenant. But the road to it is crooked and uneven, it goes up and down many hills. Or, to say it differently, the pilgrims have to go through high tide and low tide, through hope and fear, through light and darkness! When they are down there in the valley, longing for the hill where they may meet the Lord, where He shall speak to their soul and where they may experience the blessings of the mercy seat, then with a sigh in their soul they sing: My one request has been, And still this prayer I raise, That I may dwell within God's house through all my days, Jehovah's beauty to admire, And in His temple to inquire. www.sermonweb.org

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But when they may stand upon one of the high hill tops, and for a moment may see the top of the Temple Mount, a song resounds in their heart and it is heard from their lips: Blest is the man whose strength Thou art, Thy ways are hidden in his heart, He treads the highway to Thy dwelling. Sometimes life’s pathway to meeting God is very crooked. In fact, the way in which God deals with the soul is sometimes the way of the Crook in the Lot. Who would have expected that? We often think that the Lord’s way is a straight line, as drawn with a ruler, from point A to point B. But in reality it so often turns out to be a crooked path. Sometimes it seems like they are going in the wrong direction for numerous miles and they truly believe that one day it is all going to end up so terribly wrong. Yet…it will all come out alright! Do not become despondent, child of the Lord. Your help cometh from the Lord alone, does it not? Let then your prayer be: “O Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner!” Child of God, as you travel along the narrow path, the Lord will prove that, “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” Let Satan hiss, let him mock, but do not become dejected, for the Lord will guide your feet and sustain you on the path of life. He will guide through dangers all, Will not suffer thee to fall. Therefore, you will not suffer sprains, you will not wound yourself, and you will not break anything, because He will care for you! He will bring His children home. God guarantees it. Is this not a great encouragement? ”He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” That is just what you need for your life, for all the riddles of your soul. There are times that we are so tired: we have spent all our strength, and our reserves are depleted and we are ready to collapse in despondency. But even then it is true: He, the Shepherd of Israel does not slumber www.sermonweb.org

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nor sleep. He will not allow your foot to be moved. Your Keeper will not slumber. He does not give His children over unto themselves or let them succumb to their own despondency. Do you know why that is? Do you know why God will not let His children succumb to their stumbling’s? Only because of the blood of the covenant; only for the sake of Christ! Pilgrims will come, from far and near. The Lord shall grant them a safe arrival, even if they have to go past sharp cliffs and deep ravines. Even when His path is through the sea, yet the waves will not overcome them. Do you know why not? Satan can only do so much, his power is limited. “They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness” (Psalm 22:31). God Himself will lead them, as this Psalmist explains, though the pathway to their final destination may not be easy. How is it with you when you have lost the sense of the Lord’s nearness ? Our mind can be totally occupied with the rocks we encounter on our path. The big boulders and all the smaller rocks can cause us to ponder for hours if there will yet be a smooth part to our path of life. And meanwhile Satan laughs! That is what he wants. Do you know why? When those thoughts occupy your mind to the extent that you mull over them again and again, you will not have the calmness to observe that the Lord is leading you and that He keeps your feet from falling. Then you will not experience the comfort of “My help cometh from the LORD.” Am I now suggesting that your life’s pathway is easy, children of God? No, not at all! Ask Paul about his experiences. He had to endure a sharp thorn in his flesh. That was his Crook in the Lot: a pathway of life with a sharp thorn. But remember, Satan doesn’t mind if we talk for hours about the sharpness of the thorn and discuss for days the size of it. Why? Because, if the Lord does not prevent it, the result of all this talk will be a fruitless and bitter life. No, we do not desire a thorn, and we shouldn’t desire one either. The Lord does not seek a gloomy mind. Instead, He seeks a yearning heart: My thirsty soul longs earnestly, Yea, faints Thy holy courts to see www.sermonweb.org

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

True, my feet do stumble, my steps falter, but when all my trust is in the Lord alone, He will not suffer my feet to move, then I will not stumble! The text also speaks of the Lord as the “Keeper of Israel.” He is the God Who keeps us. Maybe you ask, “Is that His will for my life too, to be completely dependent upon this Keeper?” Yes it most certainly is. Or would you rather the Lord work in the way that you desire? Oh, commit yourself entirely unto Him! We give the Lord so much work to make us dependent upon Him alone, so that we seek Him alone for our Help. “Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Do you know what that means, to slumber? That is a kind of twilight state, a state in which you are not fully awake, neither are you fast asleep. It is something in between. Certain things you fail to notice, whereas other things you clearly observe. What do you think, will that happen to God? Will there be certain things that escape His attention while He notices other things? Beloved, the Lord never slumbers nor sleeps! There is nothing that escapes Him. He knows all things. He knows if there is a burning desire within you to follow Him and to serve Him. He also knows your sorrows and your stumblings, as He did with Peter. “Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I denied Thee, but Thou also knowest that I love Thee.” He knows your heart, inside out. Examine yourself therefore; is there a yearning for Him within you? This Psalm speaks of a continual watching. That is why it is said even stronger in verse 4, “… shall neither slumber nor sleep.” He does not stop keeping them. He does not say, “Now you have to do it yourself for a while.” Oh no, He doesn’t say that. If we had to keep ourselves, even for one moment, it would end in disaster! But what a blessing! He does not expect us to be our own keeper. His eyes are always open! He never sleeps! Even when the Lord hides Himself from our soul’s eye He does not slumber nor sleep. Even when the days of darkness are many, He still does not slumber nor sleep. And when heaven seems like brass, His eyes are yet open over His children, day and night. In essence, what these words mean is that the Lord remains the same. Whatever may befall the pilgrim in this life, God stays the same! He is immutable.

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

On the other hand, do you know what we are like? We are as unpredictable as the weather. We change all the time. But the Lord always remains the same! What a comfort that is for the children of Jacob, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” God forever remains the same as He always has been. Today He is still the same as at the time when He spoke to your soul for the first time, when the Word came powerfully into your soul. He remains the same, although you may have to complain that your life is like the daughter of Zion who is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers (Isaiah 1:8); when you feel yourself to be a sparrow alone upon the house top (Psalm 102:7). The Lord is and remains the same. You should ask someone who lives in a country where Christians are persecuted if they believe that the Lord remains the same. Perhaps you think that such persecuted people will probably be very jealous of us who live in a country where we have freedom of religion and where our churches are still reasonably well attended. But beloved, also in North Korea He remains the same. And that is what those persecuted Christians confess, in the midst of all their persecutions: that the Lord remains the same! Also in places like North Korea, where you would be whipped and beaten with sticks and threatened with death, He remains the same. If we look only at the circumstances, we will not see it. But he who expects all from the blood of the covenant, from the ministry of reconciliation, can confess as the Christians in North Korea, “My help cometh from the Lord. He will not slumber nor sleep. He remains the same!” Do you know what the keyword in all of this is? Trust. Do you trust in yourself, in what your eye can see and what your ear can hear? Or, do you trust in Him alone even though the strength of this trust may not always be the same? Trusting Him means trusting Him for the church, for your family, for your whole life! He remains the same throughout the generations. Yes, as long as the sun and moon endure, He will remain the same. What an amazing comfort that is! It encourages us to pray for

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

our dear children, that they may follow in the way of the Word of God, that one day we may see them standing by the altar, the place of reconciliation. Nothing escapes His attention. The Lord, however, is not a Keeper for your sake or my sake, but for His great Name’s sake. It is about His honour and glory. In this way He wants to be our Refuge, as a protecting Keeper.

Before we shall consider our third point, let us first sing of this from Psalter 128:1 and 2.

Verse 1 God is our refuge and our strength, A helper ever near us; We will not fear tho' earth be moved, For God is nigh to cheer us. Although the mountains quake And earth's foundations shake, Tho' angry billows roar And break against the shore, Our mighty God will hear us.

Verse 2 God's city is forever blest With living waters welling; Since God is there she stands unmoved 'Mid tumults round her swelling; God speaks and all is peace. From war the nations cease; The Lord of Hosts is nigh, Our fathers' God Most High Is our eternal dwelling.

3. A protecting Keeper The LORD, the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, keeps His children because He knows that His children cannot cope, not today, neither tomorrow, nor the day after tomorrow! He keeps them, leads them and directs them. Not because He pities them, but because of His incomprehensible love for them. The Lord was already their Keeper from eternity. Recall Thy mercies, Lord, Their tenderness untold, And all Thy lovingkindnesses, For they have been of old. www.sermonweb.org

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God protects His Church. That is only possible because of His perfect justice! He gave His Own Son as the perfect Sacrifice so that He would merit this protection for all those that are His. And thereforeHis children can say: “The LORD is also my Keeper.” Do you understand that? His keeping is based on a sure foundation and stands secure. Therefore, let go of all that you desperately try to hang on to that is outside of God! He who will let the faithful God take care of his life, is well cared for. He is the God of the oath and of the covenant; the God of Whom we confess at the start of every church service, “Who keepeth truth forever and never forsaketh the works of His hands.” That work which His hand begun is from eternity. “I do it not for your sake, pilgrim, but for My great and holy Name’s sake, so that My Name will be glorified.” What else do we read in the text? “The LORD is thy shade.” When you are in the shade, the sun does not burn. The shade provides rest and comfort. The journey of life is difficult for God’s children and the Lord knows that. For that reason He lets the pilgrim at times rest in His shadow. Spiritually this means resting in the shadow of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. How restful and delightful for all God’s children is the shadow of the cross of Golgotha! How sweet is the rest they find in Him! Beloved hearers, it is a blessing if you may experience that the preaching of God’s Word touches your soul, when the words spoken by the preacher echo in your heart. Of course, I heartily wish that to be your case. It is much to be preferred to be touched by what you hear in church, than to be cold and indifferent under the preaching as, I greatly fear, is the case with many hearers. Nevertheless, these experiences are only little pearls which point to the perfect righteousness of God in Christ. They are, so to speak, little fingers that point to the ground of salvation. The true rest and blessing is to be found only in Jesus Christ, the true Shade. Do you know this rest in Him? I say it again: there is no ground in our frames however pleasant they may be, or in our listening. He only is the ground of our

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Rev. A. A. Brugge – The Lord my Keeper

salvation and nothing else. Who is your Shade? And what did you find in the shadow of the Almighty? Beloved, what unfathomable depths we find here! Christ was entirely consumed on the altar of God’s justice, so that I would not be consumed. Restless as a worm He crept in the garden of Gethsemane. Why? So that I may dwell in His shade and may experience God’s loving favour and blessing. How precious this King becomes when you may sit in His Shade! This King of the Church is the fairest under the children of men! When in the Shade the Name ‘Jesus’ is spelled, that Name receives its true meaning: Jesus the Saviour, the Christ, the Anointed of the Father! In the Shade His Names at times fill the heart of a child of God to overflowing. He is the Shade! Oh that God’s Word may teach us true wisdom! He is such a refreshing Fountain, a Fountain of comfort. Have you already found rest in His shade? Do you long for that? Has that become your desire? Then your prayer will be: Whom have I, Lord, but Thee on high? None else on earth can satisfy But Thou, O God, my soul's deep yearning That is the sole reason why I will lift up my eyes unto the hills. That is where my help comes from. Even though at times I cannot feel His presence and it causes pain in my heart because I miss Him, yet I must confess, ”My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.” He created the heavens and the earth. He also created lowly me, and gave me life. Though Satan or the voices within at times say, “Does the Lord even know of you? Would He really keep you?”, yet there are times when you may joyously say, “He is the Shade for my soul, the Shade for a prodigal, the Shade for a hopeless one! He is my Shade, because He interceded for transgressors such as I. He has borne the sins of many!” For this reason we may sometimes point our finger upwards in wonder and say, “Lord, I am such a great sinner, yet Thou art my Shade.” The wonder of God’s grace is incomprehensible and our heart is amazed at the thought of His all-sufficiency: so www.sermonweb.org

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rich, so deep, so great and full of blessings! A storehouse of blessings in Him will be our inheritance. The verse adds something else, “upon thy right hand”. That is the place of God’s favour. Not the left hand but the right hand. Where Jesus appears there will be rest and peace. Where the law abides, it sounds, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” There unrest will remain, and uncertainty, and stumbling. Outside of Christ we feel lost, forgotten of the Lord and wander about without Him. But at His right side, there is peace! There we are secure. The Lord, that faithful Guide, says to His pilgrims, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” If you have to go through the waves, they shall not engulf you. Though you may have to go through the fire, it will not touch you. That is how faithful He is! There is more yet, “The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” The sun and moon point to a time frame of 24 hours. During this whole time frame the sun and the moon are constantly there. And that goes on and on, day after day, month after month, year after year. And, according to His own Word, the Lord will never forsake the work that His hand has begun. If you may dwell in His Shade then you hope in His promises, in His protection and His love. He says, “I am with you, even though you may not experience the shade but, just as the sun and moon are there, even when the sky is cloudy, I am there.” In Psalm 72 we read, “They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.” There will always be new pilgrims and therefore this song shall remain a pilgrim’s song until the last day. He does not change, He remains the same, and that is why His work is so secure. Beloved, there is no apostasy of the saints. Those who seek and fear the Lord in truth will not fall away, but they shall be led on until they arrive at their final heavenly destination. Also the future generations shall be His inheritance. We may even think here of children that have yet to be born. Let there be therefore much prayer for our children and grandchildren. The sun and moon still shine their light as www.sermonweb.org

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an encouraging sign that His work continues. Nothing will be able to hinder that. No persecution of the church can hinder it. Neither can the spirit of the times. It is because we do not look to the earth, but we look up unto the God of the Temple Mount; to the God and Father of His Son Jesus Christ. 4. A perfect Keeper Finally we read, “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” The Lord preserves. That is the keyword: to preserve. He preserves His children from all evil. Do you hear that? He shall preserve your soul! The poet has tasted something of the power of reconciliation, of the blessing of the blood. The Lord speaks from above the mercy seat. That is why He preserves from evil. That is ultimately why His children are preserved from disaster and calamity. Oh, for sure, there can be much that can come up against them, but ultimately not only their body, but also their soul is preserved from all evil. When is evil really evil? When the Lord does not protect or preserve me from it. When the Lord does not make me see the good as good, then the evil is evil. Therefore, pray for His perfect guidance. Children, ask Him every day: “Deliver me from evil, Oh Lord!” Do you ask for that? Have you ever thought what the service of the Lord really is? It is this: He delivers from the greatest evil and brings us to the greatest good. And that is what we read here, “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul.” He does it for His Son’s sake; for Jesus’ sake alone. “He shall preserve thy soul.” Does that mean you will receive everything you pray for? No, it does not mean that. But if the end is well, then all is well. Why is that? Because when God begins it is a good beginning; His good will never perish. God began His good work in the life of all His children. He made them to become pilgrims and led them on His path. “The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in.” That is something! It means that He preserves you when you go to work and when you come back from www.sermonweb.org

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work. He preserves you in your task as mother in your family. He preserves as you worry about your children. He preserves when you go to school and when you come home from school, and so forth. He preserves, so that our lives may be directed towards Him. Whatever the inner mockers may say, He will never leave or forsake His people. He will cover them with His wings and protect them in everything, in their whole conduct in life, in their personal life as well as their place in society. No, we do not know what is good for us, but the Lord does. He shall preserve your going out and your coming in. Are you able to do that by yourself? Are you insured for that? This pilgrim in Psalm 121 is not because the best insurance is the Lord Himself. The Lord, the God Who has made the heavens and earth, cares for the life of each and every pilgrim that lies in His hands. Their salvation lies secure in the hands of Him, the Son of God! His hands had to be pierced for that. “The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” God preserves, not only during our time on earth here below, but also for eternity. And so we close with this question: is this what you are most busy with, namely to prepare yourself for eternity? Amen. Concluding Psalter 445:4 Jehovah will preserve thee when The waves of trouble roll; He will preserve thy soul. When going out or coming in, The Lord will thee deliver, From henceforth and forever.

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