The Pilgrim’s PrayerНамуна

The Protection of the LORD

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

Psalm 121:3-4

The pilgrim has to walk through many perilous paths, treacherous terrain, and slippery slopes to arrive at the glorious city of Jerusalem where God abides in his temple. Such holy journeys required tremendous trust in God to guarantee the safety of the traveller seeking the house of God to rest and worship. It required firm faith in the God of Israel who is a very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). This divine help manifests primarily in three ways as the Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, points out: “YHWH protects the path of the pilgrims; YHWH is vigilant and does not sleep; and YHWH is endlessly awake and attentive.” The pilgrim can rest on the surety that his God is his perennial protector. He is like the bodyguard who is always alert and on guard against every threat. He is there 24-7, 365 days. He is never distracted, nor does he ever sleep. God’s children experience protection, unlike anything this world ever knows. After all, God is the keeper of Israel and no Israelite can ever be lost from the grace of God! 

Before the English missionary and explorer David Livingstone set out to Africa, he along with his father and sister read Psalm 121 and prayed together for God’s protection. Livingstone was going to an unexplored dark continent. His path was unknown. Yet he knew that his God would not let his feet be moved! Livingstone’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Moffat, once wrote to him in Africa saying that whenever she thought of him in Africa, she remembered Psalm 121. This is the believer’s blessed privilege that he has a heavenly host watching over him.

The Christian life is no easy walk in the park. As the Puritan, John Bunyan, aptly put it: it is the pilgrim’s progress from the city of destruction to the celestial city of God. This path of faith as Jesus warned is narrow (Matthew 7:14) and full of trials and tribulations (John 16:33). There are numerous obstacles to overcome, countless sins to slay, and unnumbered foes to vanquish. The adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Temptations lurk around every turn. Doubts assail within and without. Disaster is never far. Yet the believer can pilgrimage through this life boldly trusting that Jesus who died to save him will also watch and protect him.