יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)


Psalm 121
1I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
2My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
3He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
4Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses.

First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". They both bear the same meaning. That word points to God’s guardianship – to hedge about, guard, protect, keep, attend, to watch. From this prayer, we know that God never looks away from us.

This psalm is a marvelous piece of Hebrew poetry. By genre it is called a Tetrastich. (There’s a long Greek word you’ll never need again.) That simply means it steps up progressively every two verses. So there are 4 steps in this Tetrastich. The first two verses lay out the question and supple an answer: Who will take care of me? The Lord who made me!

The 3rd & 4th verses give assurance that the God who “keeps me” never sleeps. Think about that. God never looks away. He isn’t surprised by what is happening to you, nor is He unable to handle it. We find that illustrated by the fact that He never sleeps.

Verses 5 & 6 deal with things further away from me, with the writer even using two things that are always with us – sunlight and the moon. There is great comfort in knowing that God controls all things, even in how they affect me. He can keep the everyday stuff, like the sun and moon from causing you danger. I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that He protects us from the moon. Why? I was taught that means He will protect my mind from “lunacy”. That’s slightly funny to me and there may be those in my life who might declare that sometimes my behavior seems like I have indeed lost my mind. But – I digress.

Verses 7 & 8 wrap up the whole idea with the reminder that not even evil can assault me without the Lord’s knowledge and protection. That puts me in mind of Peter and Jesus the night before Jesus is arrested. Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked to “sift him [Peter] as wheat” (Luke 22:31-32) and Jesus puts barriers around that event.

After being reminded of all this meat inside of these 8 brief verses, I can see why this psalm draws us in while we are experience turmoil. For King and Country have put this song to words. I leave a link here so that you can extend your devotional time with some music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDSU5SNojE4

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more