The Pilgrim’s PrayerSample

The Preservation of the LORD

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep 

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 121:7-8

The Psalm ends with a divine benedictory pledge that God will keep the pilgrim safe and secure. God promises to preserve the pilgrim against all evil. God does not state he will preserve him from misery and misfortune but from evil. The believer will be protected from the evil of the devil and sinful men. The believer can rest assured that no evil will befall him stealing him from the grace of God. Even that which the enemy intends for evil is meant for good by God (Genesis 50:20). As the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism states, “He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven; in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.” Thus, the pilgrim can boldly confess, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). 

The Lord promises to preserve the pilgrim’s going out and coming in from this time forth and forevermore. The child of God is watched over by God from the cradle to the grave and then forevermore! There is never a time when God does not preserve the life of his child! He is always blessed every step he makes (Deuteronomy 28:6) for his salvation is eternally secure in his Saviour who died for him. 

When Bishop James Hannington was ambushed in Uganda by the Basoga people he wrote in his diary, “I sang ‘Safe in the Arms of Jesus’ and laughed at the very agony of my situation. My clothes were torn to pieces so that I was exposed; wet through with being dragged on the ground; strained in every limb...” The 38 years old Hannington would be speared to death eight days later. Hannington laughed at death for he knew his Saviour will preserve him before his glorious presence for all eternity (Jude 24-25). Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate the believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).