The Lord Keeps Watch - The One Year Book of Bible Promises

The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.

Psalm 121:5

THERE’S NO DOUBT about it: fear is a universal phenomenon that affects all people in all cultures throughout all time. It’s something every human being can relate to because it’s something every human being has experienced.

Sometimes we fear the fantastical—monsters or boogeymen or weird manifestations of our own imaginations. Other times we fear the unknown; we cringe at the immensity of everything that could go wrong just as a sailor cringes at the thought of a storm brewing on the open sea. Still other times our fears are eminently practical. We fear the loss of our jobs, for example. We fear the tension in our marriages and families. We fear beginning a task we know will be difficult.

So how do we deal with these kinds of fears? This psalm is a good starting place. It speaks of how God watches over each of us. He is our covering, our invisible shade to keep us from being scorched by spiritual forces and being destroyed by life’s trials. If the sun were closer to the earth, we would be burned to a crisp. If it were farther away, we would freeze. God protects us from unseen dangers, both gigantic and minute. He watches over all these awesome forces just for our benefit. Nothing can touch us unless God allows it for purposes he approves.

When fear strikes, think of this psalm. God promises that he is watching and protecting, always.