Heart of a Psalmist - Worshipping Christ Through The Psalms

1. He Guards Our Journey- “He will not let you stumble and fall …”(3) The high mountain passes to Jerusalem could be very perilous to the pilgrim. Stumbling is synonymous with committing sins that injure us and stop our spiritual progress. If we wait for his help he will guide us through the dangerous passages of life. “Jesus said ...’I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.’”(Jn. 8:12) 2. He Guards Our Rest- “… the one who watches over you will not sleep. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps.” (3,4) It is difficult to find a military ‘guard’ who will keep watch over the troops through the entire night. Sleep is our most vulnerable time and yet God is there con- stantly watching over the weakest points of our lives. ‘The word ‘shamar’ (watch) …comes from ‘she- muroth’, signifying the eyelids, because they are the keepers of the eye…’ 2 God is as close to us as the eyelid covering the eyes. The Lord is eternally awake but ‘the vegetation gods of the cultivated land, by contrast, die at the change of the seasons, they sleep (slumber)’ 3 Elijah mocked the priests of Baal as they attempted to get him to answer their prayer: “About noontime Elijah began mocking them…maybe he is away on a trip, or he is asleep and needs to be wakened!” (1 Kgs. 18:27) 3. He Guards Our Days- “The Lord himself watches over you! The lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hurt you by day…”(5,6) The parallel between our journey and Israel’s travels in the wilderness is intended here. The Lord provides the protective shade of his Holy Spirit to keep us from withering in the blistering demands of each day’s activities. The Israelites had the re- freshing cloud described in Exodus 13:21 “The Lord guided them by a pillar of cloud during the day ...” 4. He Guards Our Nights- “…nor the moon at night.”(5,6) The moon represents the realm of night and is symbolic of the reign of Christ in this present age of darkness: “His dynasty will go on forever, his throne is as secure as the sun, as eternal as the moon, my faithful witness in the sky!” (Ps. 89:36, 37) The moon was thought by ancient cultures to be the agent of demon-possession and ‘lunacy’: ‘In the Babylonian world disastrous effects are ascribed to the moon god…the thought can also be about the affliction of being moonstruck, which was understood to be possession by demons.’ 4 The cloudy pillar by day became a supernatural pillar of fire by night to protect the transient Israelites in the wilderness: “The Lord guided them by a pillar of cloud during the day and pillar of fire at night. That way they could travel whether it was day or night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from their sight.” (Ex. 13:21, 22) The same ‘cloud and pillar’ of the Holy Spirit watches over us by day and night. 5. He Guards Our Spirit- “The Lord keeps you from all evil” (7) As we place our life under the care of ‘The Watcher of Israel’, no evil force can touch us outside of his divine permission. Satan had to be granted access to afflict Job: “You have always protected him and his home and his property from harm. You have made him prosperous in everything he does…But take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!’ ‘All right, you may test him,’ the Lord said to Satan…’But don’t harm him physically.’” (Job 1:10-12) 6. He Guards our Soul- “…and preserves your life [soul, NKV].” (7) The Lord is intensely inter- ested in our inner life, that our emotions are healthy and that we are not overcome with depression, dis- couragement and despair. He desires that we can be happy and positive about what he has planned for our future, He watches over our soul: “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” (1 Thess. 5:23) 7. He Guards Every Aspect of Life- “The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go…” (8) The expression ‘come and go’ embraces all the aspects of our lives after we have expressed our wor- ship to him and then departed to our daily tasks. He is not just the God of the holy moment, but the God of our whole life. 8. He Guards our Eternity- “…both now and forever.”(8) The final cycle of ‘coming and going’ will be when ‘The Guardian of the Gate of Heaven’ opens the everlasting doors and welcomes us into the eternal city: “And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Pet. 1:11)

1 Kraus 2 Spurgeon

3 Kraus 4 Kraus

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