God’s Word for You

Psalm 121:5-8 The one who watches

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, February 6, 2026

5 The LORD watches over you,
the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun will not hurt you by day,
nor the moon by night.

In these verses our author continues his gospel comfort that the Lord is not only watching over us, but he prevents many harmful things from afflicting us. He is compared with shade, which everyone understands if they know the difference between working and sweating in the heat of the day because the man has no choice, and simply “being outside” for exercise or pleasure as some people do. For the blistering heat is the environment for the farmer, the builder, the road worker, the painter, the homeless man, the shepherd, and the grave digger. Shade means relief, whether a lot or a little, and it’s always welcome. “I delight to sit in his shade” (Song of Solomon 2:3).

The natural pairing with sun is moon, but how can the moon hurt anyone? There must be two ways in particular. The moon never scorches the body the way that the sun does, but the moon has two other important qualities. First, the moon gives light, and a full or nearly full moon gives off enough light to read by, light that is of course reflected by the sun. But for a soldier like David, the moon suddenly appearing from behind the clouds on an otherwise dark night can betray a warrior’s position, or give away the hiding place of a man running for his life as David so often did from Saul. God promises to help in these moments.

The second quality of the moon is that it is so nearby that we are affected by its gravity. If a family or a school has a typical globe, the moon is a smaller sphere, about the same diameter as the contiguous United States is across (a little over two thousand miles). Now, on that scale, the moon would be about ten yards away, and the moon’s gravity pulls at the earth, especially the waters of the oceans and seas. This pulling or drawing of the water causes the lunar tides. High tides happen when the moon is directly overhead or in the opposite position (due to inertia) and low tide occurs midway in between these points—two high tides and two low tides every day, with a shift every day of about fifty minutes. For the coastal shipping and navigation in ancient times, knowing about tides and the dangers of coastal waters was vital. Some ancient people understood or at least suspected the relationship of tides to the moon, but certain pagans of course had their own superstitious views. Whatever the potential dangers—whether navigation or discovery—the Lord promises to be with us and to protect us.

Luther told his classroom of college students: “In all kinds of afflictions, anxieties, and distresses—spiritual and physical—when I cannot find help and comfort anywhere, I cling to the Word of grace. There alone, and nowhere else, do I find the right comfort and refreshment—and find it richly.” Consider the words of the Great Psalm: “If your law were not my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction” (Psalm 119:92). The word of God shows us the will of God and gives us ways to live and serve him that delight him. Holy Spirit, guide us on the right path!

7 The LORD will keep you from all evil.
He will watch over your life.
8 The LORD will watch over your going and your return
now and forever.

As long as people enter and exit before the Lord, that is, throughout their whole lives, they should constantly be reminded of the last things, that they will stand before Almighty God as their judge in the end, as the wise Sirach says, “In all you do, remember the end of your life, and you will not sin” (Sirach 7:36). But at the same time that we constantly keep in mind our judgment, we must also keep in mind our holy Judge, who is Christ, and who forgives. For the Christian who goes through life only terrified and never thinking of forgiveness is a Christian whose pastor has failed to preach the gospel. Confession of sins and fear of hell are necessary and cannot be avoided or put off until later. But neither can faith and forgiveness. Without being reminded of forgiveness, one single sin can hound me and snap at my heels until the world has no place where I can hide from God’s righteous anger. Then when I hear the gospel preached or I read it in my studies, I feel like kicking myself for being so forgetful of the very thing I preach myself. How cruel are the devil’s lies and tricks and traps! He is always out to get us. He doesn’t spare a single one, although he doesn’t have to work very hard with unbelievers. But with Christians he schemes where and when would be best to strike, and he shows himself to be a dangerous opponent. He lies and he fakes us out and he blinds us to the truth. But thanks be to God that he still watches over us, he goes on offering the gospel of his forgiveness, and he keep on renewing our faith through all of our goings and comings, until the very last breath of life.

How like the tide is the faith of the sinful Christian, ebbing now, and flowing later. Full this hour, and so very low a few hours later! If we give up on God, the tide will run out and we will be like a dead sea, like the Aral Sea on the border of Russia that doesn’t exist anymore but is still on our maps and globes printed in this very century. But we keep running back to worship, hungering and thirsting for the sacrament, and the Word of God and our Good Shepherd fills us and feeds us and keeps watch over us, and the tide comes rolling back in again. We are at the same time saint and sinner, and praise God that he loves us. He has his hands on the net, and he is hauling in the catch for everlasting life.

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Click for Something Extra: Psalm 1:3

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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