June 3

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Good Morning,

Today’s readings are: 2 Samuel 20:14 to 21:22, Acts 1:1-26, Psalm 121:1-8, &
Proverbs 16:18

1 I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there? 2 My help comes
from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! 3 He will not let you stumble; the
one who watches over you will not slumber. 4 Indeed, he who watches over
Israel never slumbers or sleeps. 5 The Lord himself watches over you! The
Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. 6 The sun will not harm you
by day, nor the moon at night. 7 The Lord keeps you from all harm and
watches over your life. 8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever. Psalms 121:1-8 (NLT)

This is a beautiful psalm. It brings us an assurance that God watches over
us. However, this psalm can be easily misquoted.

We can pull out the verses we like and ignore the ones that we don’t or we
don’t understand. For instance we can say this psalm says that God will
never let us stumble. I am a Christian who has stumbled many times. It does
not matter if you take it literally (falling down, skinning my knee) or if
you take it spiritually (sinning). I have stumbled many times.

We can incorrectly pull out the verse 7 and say that it promises we will
never be harmed. Again I am a Christian who has been harmed many times both
physically and spiritually.

No one would pull verse 5 & 6 out and go stand in the sun for 12 hours and
not expect to get harmed. Yet if you try to literally apply any of this
psalm to your life you would need to apply these verses as well.

When you look at scripture you have to look at the entire Bible and at God’s
nature and character. You have to look at who the book or verses were
written to and what the book or verses were trying to address.

So what does this psalm mean.

In our “The One Year Bible” it has a title over the verses (This title was
not in the original manuscript). This title was given by Scripture
interpreters. It says: A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

This is a psalm of thanksgiving and praise for those going to Jerusalem. It
was never written as a theological treatise on the nature and character of
God. It was not intended for us to take literal promises from but to remind
us of the greatness and majesty of God.

God does watch over us night and day. He is the source of our help. We are
to cry out to Him.

Mostly we are to cry out to Him in thanksgiving and praise for who He is and
what He has done.

As a Christian, I have stumbled many times and I have been harmed many
times. However, I have no doubt that God has watched over me. He has
protected me. He has kept me from harm and from stumbling many, many times.
Do I have cause to thank Him for these things? I sure do. Does the fact that
I have made dumb choices that have caused me to stumble and fall or to get
harmed, change who God is or what He can do? Absolutely not!

Thank you God for watching over me. Thank you for protecting me time and
time again. Thank you for the times I have actually seen your protection,
and thank you for the many times I am sure you protected me and I didn’t
even notice. You are great. And worthy of all praise and glory. Thank you
for the privilege of allowing me to be your child.

Dave

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