Turning to Psalm 121, and along with Psalm 23, this is probably the two most familiar Psalms in the Bible.
We're very, very familiar with them.
And sometimes our familiarity is such that we maybe lose, because we're so used to them, so used to singing them,
and we have memorized them, and I'm sure everybody here can sing this with their eyes closed and repeated.
Certainly from the metric, because we're so used to it.
But it's always worth going over these again and again.
As we know, it's a pilgrim psalm from Psalm 120 through to Psalm 134.
They're termed a song of ascent.
And these psalms were sung by the people as they made their way up to Jerusalem for the various feasts.
That's why they're termed songs of ascent.
And the great theme in this psalm is the idea of being kept.
Very recently, a prayer meeting, just maybe the last one I did one before,
we're also looking at that theme where we saw in 1 Peter chapter 5,
1 Peter chapter 1, verse 5,
where we're kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.
And here again, we have this great idea and this great theme of being kept.
And you and I know it is the one thing, it is one of the things above all that we constantly pray for, to be kept.
Every day, we might pray for many things, and we do pray for many things, and about many things.
But we always pray to be kept, to be kept safe, to be kept from falling, to be kept from danger.
We pray to be kept from hurt, from committing grievous sin, to be kept from shame, to be kept.
The list is endless.
Every day we pray, and we might not be conscious of the fact we do,
but it is almost an automatic part of our prayer life that we pray in order to be kept.
And so, this is a really wonderful psalm.
It is such an encouragement to us, because we live in such an uncertain, such a difficult world, such a threatening world,
a world that is just so full of surprises, and often not good surprises,
that sometimes we fear, what will happen to me?
The Lord assures us of his keeping.
In this psalm, really, you could say that there are two aspects to it,
that the Lord, it proclaims that he is the keeper, and he promises to keep.
Now, the opening verse here, verse 1, is not really clear,
because it just says, I lift up my eyes to the hills.
And it doesn't, in a sense, expand on that,
because we don't know exactly what was in the psalmist's mind.
It could very well be that the hills were in his view.
Maybe he was nearing Jerusalem, and he was seeing the hills all around.
I don't know.
Maybe the psalmist felt oppressed, and that he wanted to run away.
You know, sometimes you feel hemmed in, feel claustrophobic,
and you feel you want to get away.
You feel everything is in on top of you.
And we know that David, like in Psalm 11, he says,
he expressed the desire that he might, like a bird, flee to the mountains.
That's the way he felt.
And I'm sure there are times that we felt like that as well.
I wish I could just fly away.
I wish I could just get away for a little,
because everything is pressing down upon you.
And, of course, again, the hills and mountains, they're great places.
I'm sure we've all, at different times, gone up into the hills.
And when you get up into the hills or into the mountains,
your perspective on life changes,
because you see things from a different perspective.
You're looking down on things.
And quite often, your whole,
it's not just that the vision of what you're seeing changes,
but sometimes it's almost therapeutic to your mind,
because you begin to see things,
maybe even issues and problems that you had.
You begin to see things more clearly.
And it's interesting how often, in fact, in Scripture,
we find God's people in the hills and in the mountains.
We find Jesus himself, that he used to go up into the mountain.
He would go apart into the mountain in order to pray.
It was in a mountain that he was transfigured.
It was in a mountain that Moses met with God.
And he met with God in such a powerful way
that when he came back down,
his face shone so brightly from being in the presence of God
that he had to wear a veil on his face.
The people couldn't look at him.
His face was shining so brightly.
It was on a mountain we find that Elijah
had his great prayer battle with the Lord.
It was in the mountain again that Elijah
discovered through the still, small voice
the presence of God.
And right throughout the Bible,
you will find the huge part that mountains and hills
have to play in the lives of God's people.
But when the psalmist is looking to the hills,
he's not looking to the hills
as his place of help and strength.
Now, we know that there is an element of what you would say
the hills are strong in the sense that
if you went away for 30 or 40 years,
supposing you went to live in Australia or Canada or somewhere
and you came back,
you would see massive change here in Stornoway.
But if you went around the island,
you would say, well, you know,
there's so many changes,
so many new houses,
places that were used to be there,
they're no longer there.
Gallows Hill is the same.
And the Oog Hills are the same.
And the Harris Hills are the same.
These are the things that are always foundational.
They're unchanging.
But again, the first psalm that we sang,
Psalm 125,
again talks of the hills.
Remember how it says there,
that as the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
from this time forth and forevermore.
But as a psalmist looks to the hills,
he's looking way beyond the hills
to where his help comes from.
His help doesn't come from the hills.
And he's not making any statement
that his help comes from the hills.
But it's quite possible
as he lifted up his eyes to the hills
and he saw the creative power of God
in the formation of these hills.
That his mind went out
and he began to think of the creator God.
Because it is God.
We read in Jeremiah in chapter 10,
verse 11,
Thus shall you say to them,
The gods who did not make the heavens
and the earth shall perish from the earth
and from under the heavens.
It is he who made the earth by his power,
who established the world by his wisdom,
and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
And you know,
I'm sure there are many times as a Christian
that we stop because
the Bible makes it very clear to us
that the special revelation that we have
is in the word of God.
But there is a general revelation
that is given to us in the creation.
And we see God's power
and we see God's handiwork
in the sky.
It tells us from the Psalms as well
very clearly
that when we look up into the sky
on a starry night
and we see
the way that his fingers framed.
God's handiwork in the sky
and there's nothing random.
Whatever people will tell you today
about explosions
and this and that
and just coming together,
God had a deliberate plan.
God is a God of wisdom
and a God of order.
And he ordered and planned
and structured this world,
this whole universe.
And it is there as a great display
of his creative power.
And that's why there is such an attempt made
to undermine the creative power of God.
Because when we do that,
we take God out of the picture.
And of course,
it's been one of the most powerful weapons
in Satan's toolbox
where there's this attack upon the creation
of God as a creator God.
And when we look at the power
and the majesty
and the glory of our creation
and then we see the wisdom,
the intricacy of everything,
just go to the human body.
And we look at ourselves
and we marvel at
just how everything works.
It's quite extraordinary.
And so the psalmist
is realizing
as he's thinking about
the great wisdom that planned
and the great power
that brought into being.
He says,
that's where my help comes from.
And that's where your help
and my help comes from as well.
And I suppose
we've always got to ask ourselves
this question.
Is this God,
the God
that I lean upon
every single day
in all the situations
in my life?
Or do I depend
often on others?
Or do I depend on myself,
my own wisdom,
my own structures,
my own plans,
my own guidance?
And it's only when
I'm completely stuck
that I turn to the Lord.
You know,
all the time,
every day,
we should begin the day
with the Lord
and ask him
as a great,
wise,
altogether,
wonderful God
who loves us.
Let's not forget that.
The Lord loves us
more than ever
we could ever begin
to understand.
You know,
sometimes we find it difficult
to understand
how much the Lord loves us
because sometimes
we have real difficulty
loving ourselves
because of our sin.
Sometimes when we look
in at our own lives
and we see the failure
and we see all
that we've done wrong
and all these things
and sometimes we say,
oh,
what an awful person I am.
But we've got to remember
that we are his treasure
in this world.
We are his possession.
He's going to take
nobody and nothing else
out from this world
but you and me.
All his people.
And we mustn't lose sight
of that.
And it's important
to the Lord
because he is our keeper
because of that.
So we should every day
depend upon him.
And he is our covenant God.
He has entered into covenant
with us through his son.
With us an ending faithfulness.
Despite the fact
we disappoint him.
Despite the fact
we let him down.
And the Bible is full
of God's people
who let him down.
And you see your Davids
and you see your Peters
and all these.
And yet the Lord
brings them back.
And then in verse 3
after saying,
where my help comes
from the Lord
who made heaven and earth.
And then he says,
he will not let your foot
be moved.
He who keeps you
will not slumber.
And then in verse 4,
behold,
he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber
nor sleep.
And in a sense,
if you could hear
people singing this,
it's almost like
verse 3 is making
a statement.
He who keeps you
will not slumber.
And then the affirmative
is coming back
in verse 4.
How right you are.
He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber
nor sleep.
And so we are promised
this constant assurance
that we are being kept
by a God
who is constantly on guard,
constantly watching us,
never sleeps.
We know that a sentry,
when they were put on guard,
a sentry had to remain vigilant,
had to stay awake back,
in the way back,
in the old days,
if you slept on duty,
you would be shot.
It was such because
the whole camp
depended upon
your vigilance,
upon you being alert,
on you being awake.
And so the watchman,
wherever the watchman is,
it's an extraordinarily
important duty.
You've got to be,
you've got to be alert,
you've got to be watching.
And often the watchman's place
can be very difficult.
I remember my father
telling me during the war,
he was on the destroyers
and up above the bridge,
it wasn't like the crow's nest
as such,
like in the old sailing boats,
but it was something similar.
And he used to take turns
of watch up there,
irrespective.
And he was telling me like that
in the North Atlantic,
he was involved
in the Arctic convoys.
And you say sometimes,
and that would be a fearful day,
and you'd be up there,
the rain and the wind
and the ice
and everything like that.
But you had to be,
because you on that spot
were able to see beyond
what anybody else
would be able to see.
There's a,
in a sense,
almost a,
quite a,
when I say that,
I remember him telling me,
and this was earlier on
in the war,
when he was up there,
the first time he had been up there,
it was a really,
really wild night.
And when he was coming down
or an evening,
the other sailor
who was going up to relieve him
said,
Captain wants to see you.
So we thought,
what I wonder what this is.
So he went to the bridge
and the captain said to him,
you were up there
these last four hours,
yes?
Well, he said,
in future,
stop that screeching.
And you see,
there was a,
like a tannoy or whatever,
where you could get in touch
from there
down to the bridge.
And what would happen was,
my father,
to pass the time,
was presenting to himself
in Gaelic.
And he was putting out the line
and he was never the best singer,
but he would give full volume.
So for these four hours,
the captain was getting this,
blasting.
And he said,
I forbid you,
he said,
again,
to ever do that.
And my father said to him,
well,
I'm sorry,
but he said,
I was singing psalms
and the psalms I was singing
were actually prayers,
asking for God's protection.
And the captain said,
oh,
right,
in future,
do it quietly,
he said.
So,
and it was,
it was also interesting
that from that point,
and I'm totally digressing,
before the war,
my father felt
being called
into the ministry,
he had never preached.
And he thought
to himself,
well,
if I go forward
and present myself,
people will think
I'm trying to
get out of going
to the war.
So he said to the Lord,
Lord,
and nobody knew then
how long the war would last.
If you,
if you mean me to come through,
to go into the ministry,
take me through this war.
So he asked the captain,
he said,
would it be all right
if we're quiet
on the Lord's day,
if I take some of the
Lewis or Island men
who have Gaelic
and do a wee service?
And the captain said,
that's all right.
So he got his permission.
So that's where he,
where he first started preaching,
or as he said,
trying to preach
on the destroyer.
So it all came from
that night on,
on watch with,
what the captain termed,
screeching.
But the thing is that
it was,
it was a vital,
it was such an important place,
the watchman.
And even,
the thing is a watchman
might be very alert,
but might also
not be observant.
But here we have
the greatest watchman of all,
the Lord,
who,
who misses nothing.
Nothing will ever come
into your life.
Nothing will ever threaten you.
Nothing will ever come near you,
but he knows exactly what it is.
And nothing will touch you.
But by divine permission.
Just as the Lord
was the cloud of fire by day
and the cloud of,
pillar of fire by night
in the desert
with his people,
so he is still
with us as well.
And so he is this watchman
who protects us constantly.
And then it says,
the Lord is your keeper.
The Lord is your shade
on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you
by day,
nor the moon by night.
And again,
it's a beautiful idea
because we're not,
well, it's very timely
because the doctor,
Dr. Mosley,
he died.
And there's probably,
I don't know exactly,
but it's reckoned
it could be heat stroke
that contributed
to his death.
We sometimes don't hear,
do not understand
the intensity of the heat
that can be elsewhere.
But the Lord is,
the Psalm is saying,
and it's not,
I will make you a shade.
Like the Lord made Jonah.
Remember how he made a shade
for Jonah outside Nineveh.
The Lord is saying,
I won't make you a shade.
I am your shade.
I'm your shelter.
And when it says
the sun and the moon,
it really is talking
about everything.
It means daytime
and nighttime
and everything in between.
But we could almost,
you know,
we use the expression
24-7.
And at my,
at your right hand,
that is a place
of protection,
the place of defense.
And that's where the Lord
is saying that
he positions himself.
And the Lord will,
will keep you from all evil.
He will keep your life.
Now,
sometimes it's translated as soul.
I'll keep your soul
or keep your life.
But both in a sense
are the same
because life involves everything.
Body, mind and soul.
And as somebody said,
if the soul is kept,
then all is kept.
Because as we know,
there is nothing
more precious to us
than our soul.
You might have a bodyguard
and you might have
the best bodyguards.
They might have been
the best SAS soldiers
and who went into,
as we know,
many of them
go into security
and work as bodyguards
for people.
And you'd say to yourself,
wow,
this will be the best bodyguard
in the world.
Yes,
he may keep your body,
but he can't keep your soul.
There's nobody
that can protect your soul
but the Lord.
And so he is the protector
of body,
mind and soul.
He's protecting everything
with us
that we have.
The Lord will keep you
from all evil.
In other words,
keep you from evil
and keep evil from you.
Now,
that doesn't mean
that we live a cushioned life.
We all know
that we have struggles
in it.
But whatever struggles
we go through,
it is by divine permission
with holy end in view.
And then it says,
the Lord will keep you
going out
and you're coming in
from this time forth
and forevermore.
You and I know
that our life
is filled with
going out
and coming in.
Going out to work,
coming home afterwards.
Going out on holiday,
coming back.
Going to school,
coming back.
Wherever it is,
our life is involved
in constants,
constantly going out
and going in.
And again,
it really is this idea
of encapsulating everything.
Every day,
going out and in.
Every month,
going out and in.
It means that the Lord
is with you at work,
he's with you at home.
He's with you during the day,
he's with you at night.
It means that he's with you
wherever you go,
whenever you go.
It's this constant idea
of his presence,
his help,
his keeping,
his support.
It governs everything
from the dawn of our life
to the dusk,
from our birth
to the grave,
all the time,
all the way through.
And the beauty of this psalm
is that it deals
with our past,
it focuses on our present,
and it is also speaking
about the future,
not just to the end of time,
but time without end.
That's the Lord we have.
That's the keeper we have.
And we're doing tonight,
all we're doing
is refreshing our mind,
helping us to remember
who it is
who is keeping us.
Nobody in the world
has a greater keeper.
Nobody in the world
has a greater protector.
Nobody in the whole wide world
has a security
like the Christian.
Let us pray.
Lord our God,
we give thanks again
for your word
and for reminding us
so simply
of just the marvel
of who you are
and what you do
in us and for us.
And we give thanks
that you preserve us,
that you keep us.
And even when we
can't keep ourselves,
and how often that is,
you still keep us.
And we give thanks,
Lord,
for the fact
that you renew us
and you restore us.
And even when we wander off,
you bring us back.
You are the good shepherd,
the good shepherd
who knows
and loves his sheep.
So we pray
your blessing
upon each one of us
tonight here.
Again,
we pray for Norman McKenzie,
remember him
as he goes to hospital
in Aberdeen.
Pray that you'll be
with surgeon
and give him healing
and restoration.
We pray for Annabelle
and Angelbraith,
Lord,
and we pray
that your healing hand
will be upon both of them
and bring them home
soon again.
Lord,
we remember
Christine McMillan
and the boys,
Andrew and John
and respective families.
Lord,
we commit to your care
and keeping
and we're reminded
just as we heard
how suddenly
our lives can change,
how uncertain life is.
Help us to live
in preparation
for the great change
that will come one day.
Grant us your grace
and be with us
as we will soon
make our way home.
Part us with your blessing,
O Lord,
we pray.
Take away our every sin
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
We're going to sing this psalm
in the Scottish Psalter.