God Of The Hills & Streets

Read: Psalm 121

The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore. --- Psalm 121:8

The Bible In One Year:
Isaiah 26-27
Philippians 2

The 121st Psalm was a favorite of my father. The Scottish people called it "The Traveler's Psalm." Whenever a family member, a guest, or a friend was leaving on a journey, this psalm was read --- or more often sung --- at family prayers. When my father left the "old country" alone as a teenager to come to the United States, he was bidden farewell with this psalm.

Over the years, my father enjoyed many hearty days and endured others that were dark and grim. He carried this psalm's words with him into battle during World War I, and then out of it as he lay in a hospital for almost a year recovering from shrapnel wounds.

In verse 1, the psalmist looked beyond the hills to the God who made them. My father lived in the toughest section of New York City. Although he seldom saw hills, he held to the assurance that the God of the hills was the God of the dangerous streets as well.

How many "goings out" and "comings in" my father made in his 87 years! And when he went out for the last time, I believe he was singing Psalm 121 as he descended into the valley and traveled home to the other side.

How reassuring that the God of the hills and the streets goes before every believer in Christ! --- Haddon Robinson

He will ever keep thy soul,
What would harm He will control;
In the home and by the way
He will keep thee day by day. --- Psalter

BECAUSE GOD IS WITH US, WE NEED NOT FEAR WHAT LIES AHEAD.