It has been 38 years now since I locked the doors of my dental practice for the last time, and turn my back on the career I had worked so hard to achieve, with all the dreams and hopes for the future that I had once cherished. I remember the deep sense of sorrow and trepidation in my heart as I set about preparing for an entirely new career, wondering if it would work out, and having to tackle at the same time the job of adjusting to low vision. I had to begin learning cane travel, learning to use Braille and other coping strategies to read and find my way around, and of course, having to learn to use public transit in several cities (with much fear and trembling) , depending heavily on others to assist me to navigate the system. Often, I would be heard singing hymns to comfort myself as I waited for a bus, or I often was seen reciting a Psalm while riding the bus to work. One of my favorite psalms to recite was Psalm 121—it brought a great sense of peace to my heart, and still does today in those times that try the soul.

This psalm, I believe, must have comforted the people of Israel in their days of captivity, as they awaited the deliverance of the LORD, realizing that He .  was most assuredly with them and would take care of them, and one day restore them. And, do we Christians not have the same assurance of God’s presence and protection as we walk through this wilderness way, come what may in our lives? In verses 1 and 2 we read, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth”. Whether we consider the mountains as obstacles blocking the way of the child of God, or  hills that shield the movements of some approaching enemy; or yet whether we feel that the child of God is actually looking from a distant place toward the temple  in Jerusalem, the city being on a hill, the answer to the question, “from whence cometh my help?”, is always the same—the same God who made the heavens and the earth, and all mountains and hills,  is ever the defender and helper of His children, come what may. And what can possibly separate us, my dear Christian friend, from the love and care of our Father in heaven? In Romans 8:38,39 we read, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In verses 3 and 4 we read, “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep”. What a comfort for the children of God to know that our Lord is constantly vigilant and quick to come to our defense. Recall in Matthew 14:23: “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening (sunset) was come, he was there alone.” In this portion, His disciples were in the midst of a great storm on the Sea of Galilee, but the Lord had His eye on them all along; He came to them walking on the water to comfort and to save them in their hour of greatest need. And, so it is for Christians today-our Lord Jesus may be above in the glory, but He never sleeps, and constantly has His eye upon His own, interceding for us, and providing help in time of need.

In Psalm 121:5,6, we see: “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.” As I consider these verses, I often think of the extreme heat , which has afflicted many in the midday summer sun. I am not so sure about the moon smiting by night-perhaps it refers to the danger of a moonlit night on those being pursued, as perhaps an enemy being able to move into attack position by moonlight—I could think of examples of this as recorded in the history of warfare, such as the battle for Chancellorsville during the American Civil War. But, the thrust of the verse, I think, is the fact that the Lord looks after and keeps his own, whether at night or in the day.

And finally, we read in verses 7,8: “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore”. These verses seem to complete the picture of the Lord’s care for His own. I believe the words “keep” and “preserve” amount to about the same thought-Our Lord Jesus is with us, has His eye upon us, at all times and under all possible circumstances. His love and care for us is limitless, and it is everlasting, and no obstacle or force in heaven or earth can hinder Him as He watches over the souls of His own.

My dear friends, always remember that whatever our circumstances in this life, whether sickness assails us, or we experience natural disasters, or whether there is public unrest and calamities of any kind, whether in storm or in sunshine, our Lord Jesus will not suffer our foot to be moved from the path that leads to glory.

Blessings to all,

Steven J. Faulkner