Episode Transcript
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Welcome to the Weekday Podcast of Sugar Hill Church where we desire to help you know God and discover your purpose, whether you're exercising, driving, meditating, or just hanging out while you tune in with us today. Thanks. We hope these next five minutes help you feel encouraged and inspired for your day.
[00:00:22] Speaker B: Hi everybody, this is Chuck Allen and you're listening to the weekday podcast. Welcome to the last episode in this three part series on Psalm 121. We've explored how God is our helper and how he never sleeps. But today we're focusing on the eternal nature of God's care. In an episode I'm calling from now until Forever. There's something about the word forever that captivates and overwhelms us. I mean, as humans, we're wired for time, hours, days, years. We mark birthdays, anniversaries, count the seasons. Our minds struggle to grasp anything outside of that forever framework. And yet, right at the end of Psalm 121, we encounter the stunning promise of timelessness. Here's what it says in this verse. You ready? The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever. Now and forever. Now, from this moment into eternity, without pause, without end, without limitation. I want to tell you about my pop's page pocket watch. Emil is a super cool piece. I still have it. Gold casing, intricate engravings, delicate chain. My pop received it from his pop who received it from his dad before him. The watch kind of barely works, kind of remarkably actually. But it requires winding. You skip a day, it stops. Leave it in a drawer for a month and when you take it out, the hands will be frozen in place. A lot of us think of God's career like that watch. We believe he's watching over us right now in the moment. We feel his presence when we're actively seeking Him. But we worry that his attention might wander, that his care might need rewinding, that his protection might have an expiration date. Psalm 121 tells us completely other story. Let's go back to the beginning of the psalm for a moment. Verse 2. It says, My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. This is pretty significant. The psalmist base his entire confidence not on his own worthiness or just on God's promises alone, but on God's very nature as creator. The God who established the foundations of the earth, put the stars in their courses, who designed the human heart to beat without conscious thought. This is the God who watches over you. You know, this is a beautiful picture. It really, really is the promise isn't that the Son will never shine hot, but that the sun will not harm you. Not that the moon will never cast shadows, but that the moon will never strike you. In other words, the difficulties are coming, the heat's going to blaze, the darkness is going to fall. But through it all, God is preserving you, keeping you, holding you secure in his eternal grip. When you look at verses 7 and 8 again, it says the Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you and as you come and go now and forever. The Hebrew word for keeps here is shamar, which means when we've looked back over the past few days, it means to guard, protect, preserve, and watch over. But notice it doesn't say the Lord keeps harm from coming to you, but that the Lord keeps you from all harm. The harm may come, but it can't ultimately destroy what God has determined to preserve in you. For friends, the psalmist says that God watches over your coming and going. He's using language that encompasses all of life's journey. And then he adds, now and forever. You know what this means? God was watching over you before you were born. He's watching over you in the present moment. He'll be watching over you when you take your last breath. And he's still watching over you in the life to come. You know what? How beautiful is this?
I love the fact that the promise of Psalm 121. Not that we'll always feel God's presence, not that we'll always understand his purposes, but that we will be spared from the suffering of sorrow because of his care for us. No. But that through it all, through the mountains and valleys, through the sun scorched days and the moon shadowed nights, through the comings and goings of our unpredictable lives, he is there keeping watch, guarding our souls. Friends, I don't know where you are in your journey today. Maybe you're standing on a mountaintop of blessing, grateful for God's obvious presence. Maybe you're trudging along through a valley of shadow, wondering if he's forgotten all about you. Maybe you're somewhere in between, neither especially blessed nor especially burdened. But wherever you are, Psalm 121 offers this unchanging truth that the Lord is keeping watch over you. Not just today, not just when you're paying attention, not just when you're doing everything right, both now and forever. So as we conclude this series on Psalm 121, I encourage you carry these promises with you. Write them on your heart, speak them in your moments of doubt and rest them in your strength when it fails. This is Pastor Chuck reminded you that you're never, not for a single moment, outside of the watchful care of an eternal God. Thanks so much for joining me on today's weekday podcast.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast. Our prayer is that the encouragement you just heard would help you live more like Jesus today. We would love to see you at Sugar Hill Church for one of our gatherings each Sunday at 9, 15 and 11, and we're always streaming live at Live Sugarhill Church. Thanks again for joining us today. As always, if Today's message encouraged you, share it with friends and family by tapping the share button. Have an awesome.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Don't.
