“The Lord will keep you from all harm — he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Psalm 121: 7-8
I believe every word in the bible is true, ordained by God, from His heart to ours. But there are some verses in the bible I find difficult to align with my experience – today’s verse is one of those!
At face value this psalm offers assurance that God will keep us from all harm! Wow! Sounds wonderful, right? If I live my life in relationship with God, I won’t suffer hardship or pain.
But that can’t really be true, can it? I love God. I try to live in close relationship with him. Yet I have had my fair share of pain and suffering in life, and I know people whose suffering far outweighs my own.
Throughout the rest of the Psalms, we see the reality that God’s people can and do suffer. So why the inconsistencies? Let me offer a couple of thoughts on this.
1. Psalms are prayers
They were written to express the deepest feelings and thoughts of the writers in a situation. This psalm celebrates the faithful care of God. One phrase doesn’t give us the whole picture. Only when we take all the psalms, in the context they’re written, do we get a glimpse of the fullness of who God is and how he relates to us.
2. There’s a Bigger Picture
At every moment God is watching over & caring for us, even in times of pain and suffering. We often only see the smaller picture, the sliver of time that we are faced with right now. But God has in mind the bigger picture – he is outside of time, viewing all of eternity at once. God ultimately does keep us from harm, one day ending all suffering and sorrow, offering us eternal life. This restoration happens partly in this life, and fully in the age to come.
3. We can celebrate anyway
Despite not fully understanding, we can still celebrate all the ways God does protect us right now. We’re invited to triumph in the fact that, no matter how difficult our lives might be today, God is with us and our future is secure in His hands.
4. We need the Holy Spirit
We need Holy Spirit’s guidance and revelation as we won’t always understand everything that happens. I struggle with how God sometimes allows suffering and sometimes steps in. But if we let the Holy Spirit minister to us, we will end up with a deeper understanding and firmer foundation on which to build our life.
Don’t get me wrong, it is still a tough pill to swallow, especially when experiencing pain in the here and now. But we can take courage and comfort in knowing that even through the most difficult of times, God is with us, watching over us, and one day we will be safe with him in heaven.
Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash
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