"The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade"
"The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night"
"The LORD keeps you from all harm and watches over your life."
Psalm 121:5-7
AS THE Psalmist declared that The Lord is not only Almighty, the Lord is also ever awake! Such a declaration of the encompassing Sovereignty of God shows us that God is a God who relates with His people. And in the fullness, Christ came to become like us "The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son." (John 1:14 NLT). Pause and ponder, Psalm 121 is a preview of what's in the heart of God. He is not only making the people go through religious rituals, He is revealing His heart that in worship God is desiring a relationship with us!
The worship of God is about entering into a love relationship with God. His Presence (The Lord Himself), His Promises and His Protection are a revelation of the character of God that desires fellowship with His creation. Because of this His desire for our redemption is unbending! The ultimate source of our help is also the ultimate source that desires holy friendship with us! Don't lose the thought here, though God is very capable of rescue saving us from harm and evil, He does this because of his loving kindness that invites us to a close relationship with God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). We need to establish this invitation to a relationship before we go to the details of what God is so willing to do in terms of his promise of protection. His gracious act of rescuing us from ourselves and from the evil one is in the interest of offering us eternal redemption and thus making it a reality for a sinful human to enter into a Holy union with the Holy One!
We are greatly amiss and greatly in the wrong lane when we only look to God in terms of bailing us out of our troubles. There is no doubt He can do that, but it's not all about that!
The real blessing here is not the security God offers the real blessing here is the Lord Himself!
No proxy! The Lord Himself! I must embarrassingly admit that in times of calamity like where we are now in the middle of the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic, I long for his rescue than his offer of relationship! To be delivered from this trouble is the main thing not to be near the Lord Himself! Along this line of thought I am seeing the patience of God, that despite my many wrong motivations, He still saves!
I am also seeing a very personal touch of God's redemption that is transforming my heart to a grace-driven shift, from a heart that longs to be rescued to a heart that never wants to leave the presence of my Rescuer! This is truly a liberating redemption of a soul, now learning to worship!
"The Lord Himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade" is a Promise and as well a prayer of dependence for a soul that has seen God not only as Protector but as a friend, a close companion that stands beside the one He rescued. It's a promise of protection but not an exemption. Still, we are all exposed to the reality of life; with all its delights and dangers. As we are all exposed even to the reality of sickness and certainty of death THE Lord Himself is our protective shade. If not for this protective grace of God can we really handle the full impact of success? Or the full impact of poverty? Thank You, Lord, for protecting us from Satan and from protecting us from ourselves. Hallelujah! "The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night" before you even think of sunburn or moon burn, it was truly the protection of our relating Lord that kept us intact until now!
"The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life" is a pronouncement of deliverance from harm that the evil one may do to us or the evil destruction that we are so capable to do our selves! The source (the Lord Himself) is our deliverer! I think the ultimate issue is not only being rescued but longing for the One the rescued us! It's not only being delivered from Covid-19 but to become more God-dependent each day of our lives! Don't forget the following spiritual insights regarding Psalm 121:5-7
The Lord Himself watches over us
The Lord is not offering exemption, he offers protection
The Lord Himself rescue us from evil and from ourselves
The Lord Himself rescues us to redeem us that we might relate with the one who rescues us!
Abba, remind us that it's not enough just to be rescued, it's important to be Redeemed! And as Your redeemed ones, teach us to be desirous of You, our Redeemer! Amen
Abba, please rescue us from this calamity of Covid-19. Christ have mercy!
Abba please redeem our souls once again, from longing to be rescued more than longing to be with our Rescuer!
Abba as we slowly face the realities of the post-Covid-19 life, deliver us from going back to the old life of pride and entitlement. Deliver us from self and the evil one that we may always depend on You. Hear our prayer oh Lord. Amen.