Do Not Fear, for The Lord Will Protect You
Passage to be read: Psalm 121:1-8
"The Lord will protect you from all dangers;
He will guard your life.
The Lord will guard you as you come and go,
Both now and forever."
(Psalm 121: 7,8)
There are so many moments in our lives when we begin to realize that everything around us has vanished. All those strong pillars and foundations that we thought would hold us forever suddenly fell down and got thrashed. Monuments that we had been building for years faded away. And those things that we believed would help us at the time of need are no more to be seen.
Fear begins to slowly creep within ourselves. No one's around us. We see the waves of problems and difficulties approaching us and we do not have anyone who could save us, or even anything that would protect us. We lose all the balance in life. Stressed and then depressed, we look forward towards the painful end. But, my dear friends in Christ Jesus, let me tell you this. We do not need to fear. Because the LORD will protect us! Amen. And I share this belief with all the conviction.
In the passage we have read above, we find the Psalmist beginning with a great claim. And that is the claim of belief. That is the greater claim of trust. He says, "I look up to the hills, but where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:1,2). The Psalmist realises where he usually runs to in search of help and protection. He runs to the hills. Whenever there are trials and tribulations amidst his tent, he runs to the hills. Whenever he needs protection he hides himself in the hills. And he always looks up to the hills as the protection and the place of help. But he realises something more than what he thought of all these days. He says, even though I look up to the hills, my real help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth! For the Psalmist, the Lord's protection was the priority. Even when he hides himself amongst the grandeur of the hills, his faith was solely on the Lord. And, what about us today? We look up to people. We look up to superiors at work. We look up to the physicians. We look up to our bank savings. We look up to the lawyers. We look up to our qualifications and achievements. But let us remember, our help comes from the Lord, and Him alone!
And the Psalmist shares a beautiful promise with us, from verses 3 - 8. If you are reading this devotion today with fears of defeat, do not fear because Lord's word says,
"He will not let you be defeated.
He who guards you never sleeps.
He who guards Israel never rests or sleeps."
And why do we fear when we have our Lord by our side. Just like the parents of a newborn baby would have sleepless nights protecting the baby and attending to its every need time and then, the Lord who made the heaven and earth is by your side. Even though you may not know what awaits you at the end of this day, He knows it very well. And He will stand by your side and will protect you. Cheer up!
Think of the things that you fear about. How big are they? How much? How influential and powerful are these people who are coming against you? with whom are they coming? How cruel they may be? How humanless they may try to be? Think of them. And if you feel that they are coming with powers that you can't even dream of standing against to express your side, you really need not to be so scared! Do not fear, for the same promise says,
"The Lord guards you.
The Lord is the shade that protects you from the sun.
The sun cannot hurt you during the day,
and the moon cannot hurt you during the night.
The Lord will protect you from all dangers of life."
(Psalm 121: 5-7)
Even the most powerful people, would surrender before the Lord our God. Even the most influential powers would not stand against the the Lord's presence. And when the Lord's Presence is there with us, we do not need to fear. For HE will protect us.
I pray that today, all of us, will learn to trust the Lord our God in everything. Not just within the church, not only within our homes, but also in every place let us learn to trust God and acknowledge that His presence that goes with us will protect us, guard us and will help us through, "both now and forever."
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
