“The Lord is your keeper (NKJV).”

Personally speaking, I prefer the consistency, especially when it comes to God’s Word.  If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, it’s why translators aren’t more consistent when they translate words from Hebrew and Greek into English.  Sure, words can, and sometimes do, mean certain things in certain contexts.  No doubt about it.  But when one word is used six times in an eight-verse psalm?  Well, why not keep the consistency when the point is essentially the same?  Of course, not being a translator, I don’t know all the motivations and machinations that go into word selection in such an important task.  But it seems to me that the consistency of repetition would trump a translator’s preference for variety.

I’m referring to Psalm 121, one of those “psalms of ascents” that families, extended families and friends would sing on their way up the 2,700 foot incline to Jerusalem for feast days and national celebrations (Psalms 120-134).  Many of them focused on various experiences God’s people went through and therefore could identify with.  Frequently we see descriptions of God’s character in them as well.  Set to music, it was an easy way to inculcate God’s Word into younger minds and hearts, passing it on to the next generation (Psalm 78:1-7).

In this particular psalm, the theme is strictly focused on the keeping nature and power of God.  That’s what the Hebrew shamar means: to keep, watch over, protect, guard, etc.  God says it six times!  Let’s check it out.

At the opening the writer writes from his earthly perspective, “I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  Climbing the incline to Jerusalem, finding greater visibility of the surrounding territory with each step, he is reminded that God is over all and sees all.  God is not just on the hills or even atop the hills.  He’s over and above the hills!  He’s the Maker, and nothing escapes his eyes.

In the next pair of verses, he goes from personal care to national care: “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over [keeps] you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over [keeps] Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”  In other words, this is God we’re talking about.  He doesn’t get tired, he doesn’t take naps and he doesn’t go on vacation.  He’s always keeping/watching over/guarding/protecting you without interruption or distraction.  His eyes don’t get bloodshot on the graveyard shift.  And taking care of Israel at the same time doesn’t detract from his individual care of you.  Just ask any busy mother of small kids if she can easily do that with just her little ones alone.  It is not an easy task for them.  But for God?  No problem.

In verse five the writer elaborates: “The Lord watches over [keeps] you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand.”  So much is God our keeper that he is our shade.  Ever think of how close your shadow is to you?  On a sunny day you can’t get rid of it.  It’s attached to you at your feet.  In verse 3 he said that it is our feet that won’t slip.  On the incline to Jerusalem that was a comforting thought.  But more importantly, it is the journey of life that causes more slipping and falling.  And like the shade that attaches to our feet, the Lord is that close keeping our feet steady, on the ground, moving forward in his will.

The next verse continues with the analogy: “The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.”  Picking up on the shade image, God’s protective shade carries through even when the sun has set.  The moon is no threat to us, so the idea is that God’s keeping of us is a 24-7 reality.  So much so that the concluding verses end with a crescendo: “The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over [keep] your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”  Before the cross, this was a profound statement that was hard to grasp for the average Jew.  After the cross, Peter fully described this reality in 1:3-5, covering the past (“has given us new birth into a living hope”), the present (“kept in heaven for you”) and future (“ready to be revealed in the last time”).  Indeed, forevermore.

In your station of life right now, are you benefiting from the repetition of his keeping power?