I look up to the mountains;
does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from God,
who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
God guards you from every evil,
he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
he guards you now, he guards you always.
Psalm 121:1-2,7-8 Message Version
Some Bible versions still use the word “keep.” Verse 5 in
the NRSV says, “The Lord is your keeper.”
This makes it sound like the world is a giant zoo and we’re all animals
being taken care of by the Divine Zookeeper. Maybe sometimes we think of God as
keeping us in a cage with bars made of thou-shalt-nots. If so, then it’s a cage
without a lock on it, and we are free to come and go as we please. Maybe the cage
is more like a crate for a dog, which starts out as a way to keep the dog from
getting into trouble as it learns its new home, but over time becomes more of a
safe place to go, a refuge.
So verse 5 could say, “The Lord is my keep.” My crate. My refuge. My safe place. My
hideaway.
When I was a child, I would find hideaways where I could sit
and read and not be bothered. One of my favorites was the space under the
stairs. Another was the little fort my
dad had built in the side yard of our house.
These days, my hideaway is my study chair at home, or my office at the
church, or the sanctuary on days when no one else is there. One of my current dreams
is to build a hideaway in the attic of our house, my own keep.
Reading this psalm today reminds me that God is still my
hideaway, my keep. I’m thankful that even in the midst of depression I can
still trust that what this psalm says is true. Whether or not I am able to feel
connected to God, God is still there, watching over my life.
Thanks, God.
No comments:
Post a Comment