Lord’s Day, Vol. 2 No. 50

(1) Whence Cometh Your Help? Part 3

Psalm 121:5-6 “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.”

God is our omnipresent, omnipotent Protector. What a comforting thought. The word “shade” is the word for “shadow”. Shadows are never an image of sinister darkness in the Bible. Rather, in the heat of Palestine, shadows are pre-eminently an image of protection or refuge provided by the LORD.

Associations of possible abnormality with the full moon may be the reference of the psalmist. When under God’s protection, the moonlight will not strike the pilgrim by night.

The sun evokes vivid pictures of the terror of sunstroke and heat exhaustion, an image of the sun as an enemy that strikes by day. Nothing, either by day or by night, can harm us if God is keeping guard.

We recall in Exodus, how after delivering Israel from the bondage of Egypt, God provided a cloud to shade the Israelites from the sun by day and a pillar of fire by night to give them light.

Exodus 13:21-22, “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”

Nehemiah 9:6, “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.”

Psalm 121:7-8, “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

God’s protection is complete all the way. “He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.” (Job 5:19)

Notice, the LORD preserves us from “all” evil. The word “all” is all encompassing and thorough. He shall preserve thy soul – for how long? Forevermore! Here is a picture of the character of God’s salvation. It speaks of the permanence of it. When we become a child of God, we have the seal of God on us that cannot be taken away.

When we are saved, God is with us all along the pathway to heaven, we are never alone. God said to Israel in Deuteronomy 28:6, “Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.” Proverbs 2:8, “He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.” Proverbs 3:6, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” When we obey Him and look to Him for help, He will not fail to help us!

 Only Jesus has the power to preserve forever for He is God. We must sincerely acknowledge Him as our LORD. In our going out and our coming in, so many things can go wrong. Yet they did not, because we have a most wonderful Saviour who keeps and protects us all the way until we are transported to heaven.

 Paul mentioned forces that can threaten to undo us in this life but he concluded that none of these could thwart the power of our Lord to preserve our souls.

 Romans 8:35-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jude 1:24-25 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

What should our response be? It must be of praise and worship and a resolve to adopt a defensive posture of watching out for sin.

The LORD is Creator, He is Faithful Protector and He is Saviour. Amen.

(2) Youth Camp 2014

Thank God for BHBPC’s first Youth Camp held at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club from 8 – 9 December. The theme of the camp was “What doth God require of thee?” based on Deuteronomy 10:12, “And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” May God’s Word take root and bear fruit in the lives of our youths.

Yours lovingly in Christ,

Ps. Lek Aik Wee