Psalm 121—key verse 8—The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and
forevermore. This week’s psalm is a dialogue of confession and assurance.
Its use as a pilgrimage song provides the key to its understanding. Whether the
dialogue takes place in a single heart or between individuals in the caravan is
of no great consequence since all would share the same convictions. The
comforting assurance expressed is equally appropriate for the pilgrimage to
Jerusalem and for the pilgrimage of life to the glory into which the faithful
will be received. The psalm is composed of four couplets, each having an
introductory line, which the rest of the couplet develops. Key terms are “the
Lord” and “watch over” each occurring five times.
Psalm
121 – The God who Keeps and Helps
This is the second of the series
of psalms, which are titled A Song of Ascents. As a song sung by travelers,
this is particularly relevant for the trust placed in God through the journey.
David Livingstone, the famous
missionary and explorer of the continent of Africa, read Psalm 121 and Psalm
135, which praises God for his sovereign rule over all things, as he worshiped
with his father and sister before setting out for Africa in 1840. His mother-in-law
wrote him that Psalm 121 was always in her mind as she thought about and prayed
for him.
The
LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in. The promise is comprehensive.
God’s people may trust in His preserving power for all of one’s activity (going
out and coming in) and at all times (from this time forth, and even
forevermore).
When we go out in youth to begin
life, and come in at the end to die, we shall experience the same keeping. Our
exits and our entrances are under one protection.
Your
going out and your coming in is not only a way of saying ‘everything’…in
closer detail it draws attention to one’s ventures and enterprises (cf. Ps.
126:6), and to the home which remains one’s base; again, to pilgrimage and
return.
He has not led me so tenderly thus
far to forsake me at the very gate of heaven.[2]
Collect
for Psalm 121: Lord Jesus Christ, you have preserved a
quiet place for us in your Father’s eternal home. Watch over our welfare on
this perilous journey, shad us from the burning heat of day, and keep our lives
free of evil now and forever. [3]
[1]
The Crucifixion, Schnorr
von Carolsfeld, woodcuts © WELS Permission to use these copyrighted items is
limited to personal and congregational use.
[2] https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/psalm-121
[3]
Collect for Psalm 121, For All the Saints, A Prayer Book For and By the Church,
Vol. III © 1995 The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, Delhi, NY
[4]
Ibid, Collect for Tuesday of the week of Lent 1
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