Heart Songs: Week 5 | Twenty-Four Seven (Psalm 121)Sample

Sure-Footed

Dr. Boris Kornfeld was a Jewish medical doctor who was imprisoned in a Russian gulag in the 1950s. He practiced medicine and maintained records for the prison camp; however, the authorities forced him to proclaim prisoners healthy even when they were obviously not. The doctor came to know Jesus through a fellow inmate who was a Christian. His life changed slowly but steadily as he provided care to prisoners and prison staff. 

One day, a guard who routinely beat the prisoners needed serious medical attention. The doctor could have easily loosely tied an artery so the guard would bleed to death and no one would have known, but because Christ lived in him, he was unable to murder. Instead, he muttered this sentence from the Lord's Prayer, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." These were strange words from a Jew in a Russian prison camp.

On another occasion, Dr. Kornfeld was tending to an inmate with terminal skin cancer. It didn't seem like he would live through the night, and so the doctor told him about Jesus. In his groggy post-surgery state, the patient heard a commotion down the hall. Dr. Kornfeld was being brutally murdered. When the patient became fully conscious, he understood Dr. Kornfeld had risked his life willingly because of his faith, and he prayed to receive Christ. That patient was Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (adapted from Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1,501 Other Stories [Nashville: Word Publishing, 1998]), Nobel Prize for Literature recipient and one of the most outspoken critics of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet regime.

Dr. Kornfeld trusted God no matter the cost, and we share the same assurance the psalmist expressed in today's verses. We need to trust Him no matter where life may take us.

Like Dr. Kornfeld, pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem were not always sure where life would take them and had to fully trust God every step of the way. Small groups of pilgrims recited this psalm on the long journey to Jerusalem. During the trip, the pilgrims had to sleep on the road, yet the language in these verses shows confidence in God's watch, care, and protection. By inattention, continued wakefulness, or weariness, a sentinel may slumber at his post, a pilot may slumber at the helm, and even a mother may fall asleep beside a sick child. But God is never inattentive, exhausted, or weary. He never averts His eyes from the condition of His people or the needs of the world. He offers a twenty-four-seven sanctuary to us. Today we will step up to another truth: our ever-watchful Father keeps us sure-footed. 

Read the verses below and answer the following questions:

"He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:3-4).

Practical Observation

1. What is affirmed about a believer's position in God?

God's Preservation: The word moved means "to waver, slip, fall, or fallen in decay" (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary [Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010], PC Study Bible). God knows how easy it is for us to slip and fall into sin. Though we may stumble, He will not permit us to suffer permanent defeat. God "guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of His saints" (Proverbs 2:8).

2. According to verse 3, who is the Lord to His people?

3. What word is used to attract our attention? What does our keeper not do?

God's Watchful Eye: The word sleep differs from the word slumber and is translated to mean slack or lazy (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary [Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2010], PC Study Bible). The keeper of Israel isn't lackadaisical about anything. For the individual believer, the church, Israel, and the world, every detail of every day is seen by His omniscient eye. "God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind" (Job 34:21, TLB).

Personal Application

a. It is sometimes said, "If you don't want to slip, don't go into slippery places." What are some of the slippery places you have fallen into recently: judgment, hypocrisy, filthy language, hatred, lying, contention, gossip, selfishness, or envy.

1. Journal about the slippery places you mentioned above. What were the circumstances and who was involved?

2. Confess to the Lord and repent of your sin. If you need to go to another person to ask for their forgiveness, make plans to do that now.

b. Verse 4 says the Lord keeps you. Has there been a time when you've almost fallen on a slippery slope, but the Lord kept you near Him instead?

c. We learned today that our keeper does not slumber nor sleep. Journal about the comfort you receive knowing God continually watches over you. As you lay your head on your pillow tonight, meditate on these comforts and thank Him for loving you.