For Reading and Meditation:      Isaiah 40:12-17Now we come to look at a section of the psalm which suggests that the reason why the ungodly continue to prosper as they do is because God is asleep. Listen to the psalmist's exact words: "As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies" (Psalm 73:20). The truth is, of course, that God does not sleep, but the psalmist has used a figure of speech which pictures our limited human perception of God's actions. God does not sleep, but at times He appears to do so. But what happens when God stirs from His apparent sleep? The ungodly man, who has seemed so eminent and prosperous, vanishes as a dream. It is as if he had been a phantom or an illusion. The passage before us today puts this whole matter in context when it tells us that the nations are but "a drop in a bucket" to the Creator. Now they may look powerful and mighty, with their stockpiles of nuclear weapons, but when God arises they are as "grasshoppers". Do you remember being told in your history class at school about Alexander the Great? He was one of the greatest generals of all time and conquered almost the entire known world. Did you know that he is referred to in the Bible? You will not see his name written in the Scriptures, but reference to him can be found in Daniel. Look at what the Bible calls him - a "goat" (Daniel 8:5-8). Walter Luthi puts it like this: "He who to the world is Alexander the Great, is to God nothing more than a he-goat." When God arises, the great become nothing. Father, thank You for reminding me over these past few days of Your greatness and eternal power. I so easily forget that I am linked to a God who is not just powerful but all-powerful. Let the wonder of that fact sink deep into my soul today. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Psalm 121:1-8</li><li>2 Chronicles 6:20</li><li>2 Chronicles 16:9</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What does the psalmist assure us?</li><li>How does God show Himself strong?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket " (v. 15) 

This is an invitation to thee to give over the keeping of thyself entirely into the Lord's hands. Let him be thy keeper and he will keep thee from all evil. That no harm ever befalls the Christian, cannot be said. But while he follows that which is good, no harm befalls him. While he suffers the Lord to guide him, he is preserved infallibly. It is only by faith that we can appreciate the guidance of the Lord as being everything that an enlightened love could desire for us. When we have made ourselves over to the Lord and to his guidance, often the very things are suffered to come upon us which we would most certainly have characterized as evil. We are prepared for trials; but they come in a form that we should have thought to be impossible. We had formed some particular conception of the goodness of God; settled it in our minds that this goodness would prompt him to act in a certain way towards us; when lo, we find him acting in a quite contrary way; and it will go hard if the thought do not in continently arise, that God is without the goodness we had imputed to him, and that our faith has overshot the limits of the reality. Oh, what a dishonoring thought! As though we, imbecile and infatuated worms, could invent a God superior to the God that really exists. But God in due time, if we pursue the way of faith, vindicates himself to us. Our minds are disabused of their vain fancies. We get a loftier conception of the goodness of God. A foundation is laid for experiences of a far more blessed kind than those of which we were disappointed.

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

" The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil." - Psalms 121:7. 

Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation. § The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Two things I request of You (deprive me not before I die): remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches– feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. § I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible. § He who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. § The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 Oh … that You would keep me from evil. 

The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. § You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield. 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. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand … The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. § I, the Lord, keep it, I water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I keep it night and day. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me … While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept. The Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!

 The Lord bless you and keep you. 

My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. The Lord loves justice, and does not forsake His saints; they are preserved forever. § The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. § If they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. § He who endures to the end shall be saved. § Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. § Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. § He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life.

 Stand fast in the Lord. 

For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all his steps. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. § “Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” You shall not be afraid of the terror by night … nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. § He who keeps you will not slumber … The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me.

Evening Daily Light

 The darkness shall not hide from You. 

As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. § There will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand… The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. § The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night. 

7 <poetry>The <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> will keep you from all harm — <indent>he will watch over your life;</indent> </poetry> 8 <poetry>the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> will watch over your coming and going <indent>both now and forevermore. </indent></poetry>

The <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> will keep you from all harm<cr>1</cr> — <indent>he will watch over your life;</indent>

Psalm 121:7

the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> will watch over your coming and going <indent>both now and forevermore.<cr>1</cr> </indent>

Psalm 121:8

 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm  — he will watch over your life;  8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

Psalm 121:7-8

<poetry>The <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> will keep you from all harm — <indent>he will watch over your life;</indent> </poetry> <poetry>the <smallCap>Lord</smallCap> will watch over your coming and going <indent>both now and forevermore. </indent></poetry>

 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.  

Bible Verse of the Day

March 18, 2022

Psalm 121:7-8 NIV

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