Let Your Light Shine Day 13
The LORD will guard you from all evil;
he will guard your soul. The LORD will guard your coming and going both now and forever. Psalm 121:7-8
The notes at the end of this Psalm in the USCCB Bible explain the purpose of this passage:
“[Psalm 121 is] a blessing given to someone embarking on a dangerous journey, whether a soldier going on a campaign, or a pilgrim returning home from the Temple. People look anxiously at the wooded hills. Will God protect them on their journey? The speaker declares that God is not confined to a place or a time, that every step is guarded; night and day. God watches over their every movement.”
This is so encouraging for the time we are living in now. We are certainly on a journey through the unknown. The destination, at least according to the media pundits, is a return to the health and prosperity we were living in prior to this pandemic. But maybe this journey will take us somewhere new and better?
In this passage, the word “evil” refers to anything that will cause us harm. The psalm also says that God will guard our “soul,” which is our “total self”, body, mind and spirit. The final verse says that God will guard, or protect, our coming and going now and forever. These promises give us hope that whatever we are going through now, it is going to bring about our good. God does not allow anything to come into our lives unless it can ultimately bring us more life, more love, more peace, or more prosperity. God is a god of growth and expansion. However, in order to get to the new and better place, we need to be willing to go through the journey.
As the explanation of this Psalm states, this was often a blessing spoken over people returning home from a pilgrimage to the Temple. These sojourners would have just recently had an encounter with God in the Temple. They would have had their souls touched in some way by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they could not return home as the same person they were before they went on their pilgrimage. No. They would be different, but most likely, better.
That can be true for us after this pandemic. No one is going to live through this bizarre, and sudden disruption to our daily lives and stay the same. However, we can grow from this. We can use the time to journal, pray, spend time with our family (with whom we live), and grow into more spiritually, and emotionally connected people. The song, “Somewhere”, from West Side Story is running through my mind so often these days. But it is actually a perfect metaphor for the hope that we can find in this Psalm today.
“Holy Spirit, I know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord. On this journey through a global pandemic, bless my every coming-and-going, so that I am healthy and safe now and forever. Help me to hear Your still, small voice so that I can be guided to a new and better life someday and somewhere after this challenge. Amen.”