The LORD Your Shade at Your Right Hand

The LORD is your shade at your right hand. (Psalm 121:5)

In the natural realm, shade is a place of refreshment and relief from the oppressive heat of the sun. To be under the shadow of something also means to be hidden and protected by it. “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1).

Psalm 121 is one of the “Psalms of Ascent” used by pilgrims who made their way through the open country and hills on the way to Jerusalem. So the need for shade and protection was very great. The psalm writer describes, in a very practical way, what it means to have the Lord as shade:

The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

(Psalm 121:6)

Here is the promise of safety all along the way, whether journeying by day or resting by night. For as it was said previously in this psalm, the Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps (v. 4).

Psalm 121:5 presents us with two names for God which demonstrate both His ability and desire to protect and preserver you. He is The LORD Your Keeper and The LORD Your Shade at Your Right Hand. The final verses of this psalm show that this protection is all-inclusive, from beginning to end:

The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
  He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
  From this time forth and forevermore.

(Psalm 121:7-8)

Though you may walk through difficult circumstances, look to the Lord for protection and refreshment. Call on His name as The LORD Your Shade at Your Right Hand, and He will bring you safely through.

The LORD Your Keeper

The LORD is your keeper. (Psalm 121:5)

The Hebrew word for “keep” is shamar, and means to keep, guard, watch over, hedge about, protect, observe.

The psalm writer declares, “The LORD is your keeper.” Actually, the “is,” in most translations, is shown in italics, signifying that there is no word behind it in the Hebrew text. It was added to smooth out the sense in English. Literally, it is “The LORD your keeper,” a crescendo to the build-up presented in verses 3 and 4:

He will not allow your foot be to be moved;
  He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
  Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

What is described in these verses is given to us as a name of God in verse 5. He is called, “The LORD Your Keeper.”

The Lord will not allow your foot to be moved. Regardless of whatever may happen, when the dust has settled and the smoke has cleared, you will still be standing.

The Lord is never caught off guard. He does not fall into deep sleep; He doesn’t even “cat nap” or “rest” His eyes. He is ever vigilant, always watching out for His people.

Now, all of this depends upon whether we trust in Him. That is always how we appropriate His blessings and benefits, by trusting in Him and not depending on our own strategies and resources. The Lord will never turn His eyes away from us, though we may take our eyes off of Him and move away from the place of protection He has prepared for us. But if we will ever turn to Him, we will find that what Isaiah said to the Lord is true: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3).

If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what happens, you can always call on Him as The Lord Your Keeper, and know that you are going to be alright.

Abundantly Available Help

God our refuge and strength,
Abundantly available help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear.

(Psalm 46:1-2)

I understand that first line to be a name by which God reveals Himself to us. It is the nature of His commitment to us, what we can expect from Him in our covenant relationship: shelter and strength. The “our” makes it personal.

Your Bible version may read “a very present help.” I prefer the margin note in mine, which reads “abundantly available help” (I always go with abundance).

God is abundantly available help for you in the time of trouble. This reveals God’s willingness to help. Many people realize that God is able to help in any situation. That requires very little faith. But what takes faith is to say that, not only is God able to help, but He will help (See God Will Deliver Us — Without a Doubt for a wonderful example of this in the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.)

The Hebrew word for “trouble” means “narrow or tight; in anguish, distress or tribulation, beset by enemies, adversaries and foes of all kinds; pressed hard.”

Whenever you find yourself in a jam, a tight spot, “between a rock and a hard place,” God is more than willing to help. That’s why Jesus came. He will be your refuge, the place were you can go for safety. He will be your strength — you do not have to deal with adverse circumstances in your own strength. God is more than willing to help you, to protect you, to bring you out into a wide place.

The LORD Your Shade

The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.

(Psalm 121:5-6)

There is another name God reveals in this psalm: “The LORD Your Shade.” How close is your shadow? The LORD is just as close. The word for “shade” comes from a root that means “to hover over.” The LORD overshadows us to protect us from the burden of the day, but also from the fears that torment in the night.

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
  Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
  Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

(Psalm 91:5-6)

When the LORD is at your right hand, He overshadows you with all the strength you need for any situation. With Him at your right hand, you are able to do what you could never do on your own.

Yahweh Shamar: The LORD Your Keeper

The LORD is your keeper …
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
  He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
  From this time forth, and even forevermore.

(Psalm 121:5, 7-8)

We find the Hebrew root shamar, six times in this psalm, translated as “keep” or “preserve.”

• He who keeps you (v. 3).
• He who keeps Israel (v. 4).
• The LORD is your keeper (v. 5).
• The LORD shall preserve you from all evil (v. 7).
• He shall preserve your soul (v. 7).
• The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in (v. 8).
  

I think that the LORD is trying to tell us something! In fact, He brings it out quite strongly in His name, Yahweh Shamar — The LORD Your Keeper. (Notice that the word “is” in verse 5 is in italics. This signifies that it has no basis in the text, but was added by the translators.)

The word “LORD” (all caps) represents the Hebrew word Yahweh, the personal name of God by which He reveals Himself in covenant with His people. By the name Yahweh Shamar, God has covenanted to watch over His people to protect and preserve them.

• The LORD keeps you, both individually and as a part of His corporate people (vv. 3-4).
• The LORD will keep you from all evil (v. 7). Jabez prayed to the LORD to preserve Him from evil, and was powerfully blessed by God (1 Chronicles 4:9-10). The Lord Jesus taught us to pray, “Deliver us from evil.”
• The LORD will keep your soul. The “soul” is not just the immaterial part of a person, but is often used to refer to your entire being. The Bible says that God will sanctify and preserve us completely — spirit, soul and body — at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
• The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in — from now on. God is just as able to take care of us in a foreign land or right under our own roof, and all points in between. He covers us in our daily routine and at all hours.
  

Look to the LORD to watch over and keep you in every area of life. He is committed to you — are you committed to Him?

(For more about the LORD your keeper, meditate on these verses: Psalm 12:7; 41:2; 97:10; 116:6; 145:20; 146:9.)

El Gamar Ali, God Who Does For Me

I will cry out to God Most High,
To God who performs all things for me.

(Psalm 57:2)

The words “all things” is italicized in the NJKV, indicating that they are not in the original but have been added by the translators as an aid to understanding. So we have: “God who performs for me.” Other versions have:

• “God who does all things for me.” (Bible in Basic English)
• “God who holds me together.” (The Message)
• “God who is perfecting for me.” (Young’s Literal Translation)
• “God who will fulfill His purpose for me.” (New Living Translation)
• “God who accomplishes all things for me.” (NASB)

The Hebrew is El Gamar Ali.

The word gamar means to bring to completion, to accomplish, to perfect, to perform. That is what God does for us. He perfects in us, accomplishes in us, brings to completion in us, performs in us. It is found again, and in that sense, in Psalm 138:8:

The LORD will perfect [gamar] that which concerns me.

The Septuagint (early Greek translation of the Old Testament, signified by LXX), translates the Hebrew gamar with a form of the Greek verb euergeteo, which means to do good, to bestow benefits, to be a benefactor. It is the verb used in Acts 10:38, describing the ministry of Jesus, “who went about doing good.”

He is El Gamar Ali, God Who Does for Me.

In the South, when someone takes care of us, we say that he or she “does for us.” That is how God is for us. He takes care of us in every way, as in Psalm 23. He is also the great benefactor, as in Psalm 103: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” (See Six Things the Devil Wants You to Forget.)

Some people think they can make it on their own. They are not thankful for what they have. They think they provided it for themselves, went to work and earned it for on their own. As if they caused themselves to live and move and breathe and have the ability to do anything of themselves.

No, it is God who does for us, and not we ourselves. All the praise, honor and glory belongs to Him.

I’ve given up trying to do for myself—I always came up short. But God does all things well. From now on, I’m calling on El Gamar Ali, God Who Does for Me. What a wonderful name!

The Excellence of the Name

O LORD, our Lord
How excellent is Your name in all the earth.

(Psalm 8:1,9)

The Hebrew word for “excellent” means “large, powerful, expansive, famous, mighty, worthy.” The name of the Lord is beyond all boundaries. There is nothing greater than His name. In the modern vernacular, you might say that the name of the Lord is over the top, off the hook, out of the box, through the roof!

The nature of a name is that it reveals or establishes the nature and destiny of a thing. Whenever God reveals Himself by a name, He is telling us what He will be to us, what He will do for us and how He will operate in our lives.

Moses stood before the LORD at the burning bush, where God gave him the assignment of going before Pharaoh to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. Moses objected: “When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (Exodus 3:13).

God answered and revealed His name: “I AM WHO I AM … Thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you” (v. 14). The name of the Lord is a revelation He Himself gives to us.

I AM. The Hebrew word is hayah (the Hebrew letters are hay-yod-hay). It is the word for being, for existence. It is the basis for the name Yahweh (the Hebrew letters are yod-hay-vaw-hay) usually rendered in our English texts as LORD (all caps).

In calling Himself “I AM WHO I AM,” God was describing Himself as self-existent and self-sufficient, not dependent upon anyone or anything for His existence. Because He is self-sufficient, He is therefore all-sufficient for any and every need we could every have. I AM WHO I AM means “I am your all-sufficient God.”

If God had never revealed Himself as the one who meets all our needs, we would never have had reason to trust Him to take care of us. But because God has revealed Himself by this and many other of His names, we have a right to take Him at His word (the self-revelation of His name) and believe Him for everything His name signifies.

Without the revelation of His name, it would be nothing more than presumption for us to look to Him for our deliverance. But because God has revealed Himself to us by His name, we can walk in the confident assurance that He will fulfill His name on our behalf. ~ O Yahweh, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth. It goes beyond all boundaries and exceeds all expectations. Make Your name famous in all the earth. In Jesus’ mighty name, Amen.

Yahweh the Portion of My Inheritance and My Cup

O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance
  and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
  The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

(Psalm 16:5-6)

Here is a wonderful name of God: Yahweh the Portion of My Inheritance and My Cup. The name LORD (all caps) is the Hebrew Yahweh, the personal name of God, the name by which He reveals Himself to His people in covenant. The words You are are in italics, signifying that they are not in the original text but were added by the translators).

A “portion” is that which has been weighed out. The Hebrew word for “inheritance” used here refers to a portion that is received by allotment, an inheritance. It comes from a word that literally means “smooth.” Smooth stones were used for making allotments, i.e., drawing lots, and came to refer to an inheritance which is received by allotment, or lottery.

By the double use of “portion” and “inheritance,” David, the psalm writer, is saying, “LORD, You are the Portion of all portions to me.”

We might think of it this way: When we know the LORD, through faith in Jesus Christ, we have won the highest lottery. We have hit the jackpot of all jackpots. We have received the highest and greatest reward there is to receive.

A cup is a holder. God is a cup for us. He holds everything in our life together and fills us with abundance. In the Shepherd Psalm, David said, “My cup runs over” (Psalm 23:5).

After calling God “The Portion of My Inheritance and My Cup” David then says, “You maintain my lot.” The word for “maintain” means to obtain, sustain, retain, maintain. It is not about what we do, but about what God does. What He begins in us, He brings through to completion.

“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.” The lines are the boundary lines of what we receive in the LORD, and the field they describe is delightful, a place of fruitfulness and abundance.

“Yes, I have a good inheritance.” The word for “good” used here literally means “glisten.” Our inheritance in the LORD is good — bright and shining, and fair to look upon. It is delightful and very desirable.

Finally, notice that David is speaking in the present tense. The inheritance we have in the LORD is not something we will receive someday when we die and go to heaven. No, it is an inheritance we possess now. It is given to us for this life.

If you have received the Lord Jesus Christ, you have won the lottery. You are now in possession of the portion of all portions. Take time to reflect on the wonderful inheritance you have in the LORD. Look to Him to maintain and take care of you in all things. Enjoy the Lord, your portion and your cup, now and forever.