Guardian God

I love to people watch. I find myself wondering about that couple at the table next to ours in the restaurant. Are they married? (I check their ring fingers) I try to guess their ages. (I’m sure they are older than me!) What is life like for them? I am nosy about their conversation or lack of one.

Whether I am in airports, coffee shops, grocery stores, or sporting events, I imagine the lives of the people around me. Do they know Jesus? What struggles are they dealing with today? Do they understand how much God cares for them?

Psalm 121 has been my theme chapter in the Bible this past month. This psalm tells me that God watches people too – all the time, everywhere.

He is the Guardian-God for his people.

Psalm 121:4 TPT

Guardian-God is the Hebrew word shamar and it is used 6 times in this short 8-verse psalm.

Shamar means to exercise great care over, watch closely, guard, tend, to hedge about as with thorns, protect, attend to, a keeper, and a watchman.

1. Psalm 121:2 Our true help and protection come only from the Lord.
2. Psalm 121:3 The one who watches over you will not sleep.
3. Psalm 121:4 Indeed, the one who watches over you will not slumber or sleep.
4. Psalm 121:5 The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
5. Psalm 121:7 The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.
6. Psalm 121:8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go.

God is watching over you, but he not a passive spectator. He knows everything about you. He sees and understands your concerns, worries, struggles, trials and he is ready to strengthen you.

The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT

No matter what hardship you face God is your provider and protector.

Lessons from Psalm 121

• My help is from God alone.

I look up to the mountains and hills, longing for God’s help.
When trouble comes do you start looking for solutions? Do you attempt to solve your own problems and even think that a mountain of worry will help the situation?
But then I realize that my true help and protection come only from the Lord, our Creator who made the heavens and the earth. (Psalm 121:1 TPT)

We can search for answers (and we should be brilliant and informed!), we can look for solutions, but our first response and our first action should be looking for God's help.

Why do we ask the Lord for help? Because we can obtain answers, alternatives and assurances from Him.

• God watches 24/7.

You get tired. You grow weary. Your mind gets fuzzy. You go to sleep.

You can be assured, though, that whether it is a safety issue, health trial, financial struggle, relationship tension, or any other hardship – God is wide-awake and working day and night.

He doesn’t doze off, get distracted, or take a nap. He is the all-knowing, all-seeing, around the clock protector.

He will guard and guide me, never letting me stumble or fall. God is my keeper; he will never forget nor ignore me. He will never slumber nor sleep. (Psalm 121:3-4 TPT)

• He knows where I am at all times.

One of my daughters occasionally travels to places across the ocean that "this momma" deems as unsafe. I have been so thankful that there is no road she drives down, no path she takes, no refugee camp she enters that is too far for God's watchful eyes. I speak these verses as a prayer with my daughter's name in it.

He’s protecting you from all danger both day and night. He will keep you from every form of evil or calamity as he continually watches over you.

Psalm 121:6-8 TPT

God watches over you and your children no matter what corner of the world life finds you. It might be as close as your neighborhood school or a nearby hospital room. It might be across the country or across the sea.

You can rest assured that God's Word is true and his watchful eye will be with you as you leave and when you return.

You will be guarded by God himself. You will be safe when you leave your home and safely you will return.
He will protect you now, and he’ll protect you forevermore!

Psalm 121:8 TPT

GOD IS WATCHING. He is your Guardian God.

Find your rest and peace in that truth.

God is above, but He's not pushed up. He's beneath, but He's not pressed down. He's outside, but He's not excluded. He's inside, but He's not confined. God is above all things presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing and inside of all things filling.

A. W. Tozer