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. - Psalm 121: 7-8
Psalm 121 wraps up with some closing promises from God for us today. God uses the word preserve three times in these closing two verses. The dictionary defines preservation as, "To maintain in safety from injury, peril, or harm." The preservation of God in our lives is like an insurance policy God has taken out on our behalf. Let's look at the terms.
First, God tells us that he will preserve us from all evil. Not some evil, not the occasional evil that befalls man, but ALL evil. It does not matter what nature the evil is, how strong it is, or how many times it crosses our paths, God will preserve us. Remember beloved that we are in a war:
For we are
not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and
authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and
against evil spirits in the heavenly places. -- Ephesians 6: 12 (NLT)
Evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world. Evil spirits in heavenly
places. In the Book of Daniel we see an angel of the Lord was delayed for 21
days because he was attacked by the spirit prince of the
But evil is not contained just in the heavenly realms. Verse 7 also says
that God will preserve our soul. It is
said that t he soul is man's horizontal view with the
world, while the "spirit" is man's vertical view with God. The soul
thus deals with our walk in the world, while the spirit deals with our walk
with God. The soul is where we feel pain, disappointment, and discouragement.
The picture the Psalmist is painting is that God is concerned with all facets
of our lives, not just the spiritual. He understands how one affects the other.
Discouragement in our soul can affect our walk. It is too often that when we
face worldly pain and disappointment that we lash out at God, or feel that He
has abandoned us. Psalm 121 assures us that God will preserve our soul in the
face of trails and tribulations. Psalm 31 further reassures us:
I will be glad
and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care
about the anguish of my soul. -- Psalm 31: 7 (NLT)
God cares about what we go through in our soul as well as our spirit. In the
heavenlies and here on earth. Because let's face it -- we live in an evil world.
The days grow darker as we head deeper into the end times God has warned us
about. A study from several years ago said that the average person has seen
simulated 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time they are 18.
Is it any wonder then why shootings like the one in
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. -- 2Corinthians 4: 4 (NLT)
The world system encourages and rewards evil. Our flesh tendency is towards evil. The enemy is the personification of evil. But the Lord preserves our soul! The next preservation promise is that the Lord will preserve our going out and our coming in. The Psalmist painting a picture of totality for the believer. It matters not whether you are coming or going, God is protecting you. Talk about your "good hands" person! God is the ultimate insurance policy for believers!
We are
pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed,
but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get
knocked down, but we are not destroyed. -- 2Corinthians 4: 8-9 (NLT)
God is not saying we will not come up against resistance in this world. In fact, He is guaranteeing it! What He is saying is that it will not do to us what I might do to those in the world who are apart from Christ. The first set of things here are things we can expect as believers. We will feel pressed on every side. We will be perplexed. We will feel hunted and eventually may even be knocked down. It is the preservation of God over us that assures we should never find ourselves crushed, driven to despair; feeling like God has abandoned us or feeling destroyed. Wait a minute preacher, aren't there Christians who fit that bill? Absolutely. Not everyone understands the terms of their policy with God! You see the first set of things are things that happen to us; we cannot control. What we do in reaction to them however is always within our control. Not saying it is easy but we need to develop a better sense of the preservation of God in our lives and believe it when things come against us!
As if all of the promises thus far in Psalm 121 were not glorious enough, the
Psalmist finishes with temporal assuredness. Not only will God provide all of
this protection for us, but He will do so from this time forth and even
forevermore. The final picture of comfort in Psalm 121 reminds us of the
eternal life that we are currently
living in. "This time forth" speaks about our time in this world, where God's
protection is dearly needed. It assures us that in our walk with the Lord,
there will not be a moment that we do not walk in this blessed coverage. The
"and even forevermore" is a not so subtle reminder of the victory we already
walk in. It is the victory that Jesus Christ won for us at
Rev. Anthony
