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The River ChurchSermons

Marc Delcamp · 5 Jul 2026

Marc Delcamp · Sunday, 5 July 2026 · 25:25 · 3,907 words

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Psalm 121, an ancient song of ascent, reminds us that life is a journey and our eyes must be fixed on God, not on danger or self‑reliance. The sermon shows God as our helper who made heaven and earth, and as our keeper who protects, never slumbers, and preserves us through trials. It warns against looking at problems, finances, or relationships instead of God, and encourages trusting Him even when prayers seem unanswered. The message calls each listener to turn from self‑strength, accept Jesus as Lord, and let God be their shelter and guide.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

keeper 14 traveler 8 eventually 9 jerusalem 9 toward 12 journey 8 keep 17 help 22 danger 8 protector 4 slumber 5 preserver 3

Topics

Israel 1 Prayer 1 Salvation 1

Scripture referenced 20

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Psalms 121 0:00 Psalms 21 0:00 Psalms 21 1:00 Psalms 121 1:00 Psalms 121 5:11 Acts 23 7:38 Luke 22 9:04 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 9:29 James 1:2 12:44 Psalms 121 13:12 Psalms 121:3 13:12 1 Kings 18 15:07 Romans 3 18:27 Romans 10 18:52 Romans 10:5 19:16 Romans 10:5-6 19:56 John 16 20:21 John 10:28-29 22:07 John 10:6 22:27 Matthew 10:28 23:21

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

All right. Psalm 121. So for some context here, Psalm 21 is believed to have been written by King

David. And it would be a song sung by travelers on their way to Jerusalem for major festivals like

Passover or Pentecost. And these journeys to Jerusalem, they would be dangerous. So there

would be surrounding countries with thieves and robbers that would come in. They would know the

roots of these people. They would know when these festivals are happening. And they would sit on

these roots. And they would wait for the travelers to come. And they would rob them. They would just

attack them. They would sometimes kill them. So this is kind of the situation that these travelers

are in as they're singing this psalm. And it's called a song of ascent because Jerusalem, the

place they were going to, quite literally sits higher than their surrounding area. So to get

there, they had to ascent.

So the name is right there for us. Let's read Psalm 21 and then we'll really get into it. Psalm 121

starts, I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the

Lord who made heaven and earth. 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. The Lord is your keeper. The

Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day. The sun shall not

strike you by day nor the moon by night. 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 and forever more. The

psalm opens, I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? Now, as we just talked

about, this psalm would be sung by travelers. It would be the same as what we would consider a road

trip song. But it still applies to us today. It's the

ancient equivalent of a road trip song, if you will. It still applies to us today, though. While

we're not Israelites on our way to Jerusalem, we are on a journey. We call this journey life. Now,

the Israelites, their destination was Jerusalem. Ours is not Jerusalem. We live in America. Ours

is an eternity in heaven. This is the journey we're on. And I want us to keep this idea in our

minds as we go through the rest of this passage. But first, as I was studying this passage, I

wanted to talk to you about a term called target fixation. The idea behind it is in a dangerous

situation, it matters where you look. So, if you're in a dangerous situation and you're looking at the

danger, whether it's intentional or not, you are going to move towards that danger. I think of when

I was first learning to drive, checking my blind spots. I would check my blind spot, and I wouldn't

mean to, but I would start to swerve into the lane next to me. That's what we're talking about. As you

look at something, you move towards it. So, that begs the question, how do you move towards it?

That's the question. What are we looking at? Are we looking at ourselves? Are we looking to our

family? What are we moving towards? Are we moving towards our earthly desires? Desires that are

dangerous? What do we fixate on? I read a commentary as I prepared for this that said,

it is wise to look to the strong for strength. So, who do you look for in times of need, in times

of danger? Who do you look towards when life feels like it's falling apart? The travelers in this

are looking towards heaven. Now, as we mentioned, we don't have a heaven, or sorry, we don't have a

Jerusalem here in America. So, what are we fixing our eyes on, right? These travelers are looking

towards heaven. They're fixated on the Lord rather than the danger. So, what do we fixate on? We

fixate on God. And we could talk all about who God is, but our passage really lands on two things

that God is for us. First is in verse two. It says,

The psalmist proclaims that his help is not his own doing. Rather, his help comes from the Lord,

the creator of the universe. A little over a month ago, I had planned a trip out to visit my grandma

who lives in Pennsylvania. And the night before I left, I got probably the toughest phone call of my

life. My mom calls me and tells me that my grandma had had a stroke that morning. So, we go out, we

visit, and eventually we get back. And about a week later, we get the call that she's passed away.

And as the pastor is leading this funeral, he stopped on this exact chapter of Psalm. Psalm 121.

In our moments of grieving, where does our help come from? My help can only come from the Lord.

And I will have to say, in the last month, the Lord has been the greatest comfort for me in this

time. So, where are we looking towards for?

Our help. Are we looking for our next raise? Because money comes and goes. Are we looking

towards our marriage? Because people are broken and hurt people will hurt people. Is it to our

own strength? Because give it 20 years and your strength will begin to fail you. Where are we

looking for our help? It has to be the Lord. Everything else is wonderful. A job that pays

well is great. A loving spouse is awesome. A strong body is wonderful. These cannot be our main

source of help in this life. I actually love the definition that Google gives for help. It defines

help as to assist, support, or make a task or situation easier for someone else. And when I

was thinking about this, my mind went to our own body with our lungs. Our lungs support our body

by oxygenating our blood. The same way God supports our lives by guiding us and protecting us. And

just like our lungs are always working to support us, God is always working to support us. God is

always working to support us. I love the description that the author gives to God at the end of verse 2.

He says, who made heaven and earth. He removes any doubt of God's ability to help us, right? If God

can create heaven and earth, certainly he has the ability to help us in our times of need. But then

why is it when I cry out to God for help, I'm met with silence? Why is it when I cried for the pain

to go away, it never did? We actually can see this situation in the book of Acts. It says,

in Job, Job has lost everything. His family, his fortune, his health. And eventually in chapter 23

of Job, he says, behold, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I do not perceive him.

On the left hand, when he is working, I do not behold him. He turns to the right hand, but I

do not see him. Job has lost everything. And in this moment, he has a feeling of abandonment by

God. So what do we do in these situations? What do we do in these situations? What do we do in these

situations? What do we do when we feel abandoned, when we feel left with no answer? We must remember

where to look. We must remember not to look at the troubles ahead of us, but to set our eyes on God.

See, I believe that God answers every prayer in his perfect timing. And sometimes it's yes. We love

the yes answer. But sometimes it's no. Sometimes it's not yet. And when we feel that God is not

answering us, it might be this no or not yet. And in those no's and not yet's, we can trust that something good will

come from it because we serve a God who is sovereign and a God who is good. And beyond that, we serve a

God who understands us. In Luke 22, just before Jesus was arrested to hang on the cross for us,

he prayed that there would be another way. He was met with a no. There was no other way. In that

moment, he was strengthened by God. When our answer is no, we can be strengthened by God to continue

forth. Second Corinthians 12, 9 through 10 says,

Grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, I will boast

all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of

Christ, then I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. But when

I'm weak, then I am strong. When we take our eyes off the problems of our lives and instead

focus on our eyes on God, we can be content with our weakness. We can be content with our weakness.

We can be content with our hardships. On top of it all, we're able to be made strong through our help

that is Jesus Christ. God is our help to live a holy and set-apart life. When we look inwardly

towards ourselves for that help, we fail ourselves every time. But when we look towards God for our

help, he's able to guide us to live a holy life. Now, God is not only our help. If we continue on,

we see that God is also our keeper. And for the rest of the time, we're going to be looking at

the ways that God is our keeper through verses three and three through eight. So verse three

continues, he will not let your foot be moved. So God is our keeper because he protects us. This

is talking about a protection of our eternal salvation. The term be moved that's used here

means to move without being stable or to totter, like a teeter-totter. I think of someone on a

boat. I think of someone on a boat that's not balanced. And if it's not, the rope will swing

out from under them and they are going to fall. In contrast, think of someone, and you're going to

have to bear with me, think of someone who has their feet mounted in concrete. No matter what

happens, they're not going anywhere. And in life, there are plenty of things that are trying to

knock us off balance. You can fill in the blank with anything. It could be car problems. It could

be a fight with your spouse. It could be the unexpected loss of a loved one. And if you're

living your life on the tightrope, these things are going to hit you and you're going to lose

balance. And if you're living your life on the tightrope, these things are going to hit you and

you're going to lose balance. And if you're living your life on the tightrope, these things are going to

fall. Whereas if you're mounted with concrete shoes, these things might still hit you, but you're

not moving. See, when we build our life without God as our protector, we are building our life

on a tightrope. We may be able to stay on it for a little bit, but eventually something is going to

come and something is going to knock us off. When we live life with God as our protector, we live

mounted in concrete. It might be difficult to walk. It might be difficult to make any progress, but

guaranteed to not fall off the path. So yes, life will have unexpected things that come, but with

God as our protector, we are able to stay course. James 1, 2 actually says, count it all joy,

brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. When we experience these unexpected twists and

turns in life, we can count it joy. Not because it's easy or not because it would be considered

joyful, but because we know that God is our protection through everything we experience and

he is keeping us for eternity. Psalm 121 continues in verse 3 saying, he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The second way that God is our keeper

is that he watches over us. I think of a military base. At a military base, there is always someone

on post. There's always someone watching. The base is never asleep. It's always on alert. This is how

God is with his children.

He's always watching us, always on alert, always on guard duty. He's not indifferent to us and he

doesn't disregard us. He differs from every other guardian we have in our lives. Every other

guardian at some point needs a break. You can think to your family, eventually your parents

will have to go to bed. You can think to the government's help, eventually a police officer

shift will end. They have to stop. But this is not the case with God. He is fully committed to the

protection of his people. This is what he means when he writes, he who keeps Israel will not slumber

nor sleep. Israel throughout the Old Testament is known as God's chosen people and God was fully

committed to the protection of his people. We see it throughout the entire Old Testament. From God

leading his people out of slavery in Egypt to God providing food every day in the wilderness for

them and eventually him bringing them into the promised land. What does this mean for us? After

all, God is always there for us. It means we don't have to wonder if he hears us. I think this is

perfectly portrayed in 1 Kings chapter 18. In this chapter, we see two sides. First is the side of

Elijah the prophet and God. The second side is King Ahab and the prophets of Baal. And eventually

in this story, Elijah puts Israel to the test to determine whose God is real. Is it the God of

competition? They each build an altar and they say the first God that rains down fire and burns

down this altar is the real God. So first up are the prophets of Baal and they cry out for hours

and hours and hours. They eventually start cutting themselves to get the attention of Baal but they're

met with silence. Eventually, Elijah even started mocking them asking if their God had to use the

restroom. Then it was Elijah's turn and before he called upon God, he called for his altar to be soaked

with water. So he had people go soak his altar. And when he calls upon God, God rains down fire

and everything is burnt to a crisp. This is what it's like to have a God that never

sleeps. Whenever we are ready to call on his name, he's ready there and then to receive us.

It also means that he knows everything going on in our lives. Every defeat, every sin,

every time we repent, every victory. He's seen it all and he loves us all the same.

God is our keeper because he watches over us. Let's continue into verse 5. Verse 5 starts by saying

the Lord is your keeper. I read a commentary on this psalm about this opening line here that said

two principles are asserted in these previous words. Jehovah or God. Jehovah and Jehovah alone,

the omnipotent which means all-powerful and self-existent God

is the keeper and preserver of his people. And two, the people of God are kept

at all times and in all circumstances by his mighty power unto everlasting salvation.

They are preserved even forevermore. This means when God is called our keeper in this passage,

it is saying that God first is divine in his nature and second, our eternity is secured

through him. This is why we cannot rely on ourselves to get to heaven. This is why

every time we try to do that, we fail. Because our security is in the Lord, we must look to him

or we will be living a life balancing on a tight rope destined to fall. And this is the gospel of

the psalmist. He realizes that he cannot complete this journey to Jerusalem by his own. He needs the

Lord to help him. In the same way for us, we are on this journey of life and we encounter danger.

This danger we encounter is not thieves or robbers, it's sin. Romans 3 23 says,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And just like the traveler, we need rest

and be rescued and protected from our danger. And we cannot do it on our own. That's why God

sent his son to die on the cross and rise three days later so we can have a relationship with him

again. Romans 10 9 says, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. This is the door that's open for us, the

door of salvation. Allow him to be your keeper today. If you've never accepted Jesus, I urge you

make today the day of salvation.

Verse 5 continues on, the Lord is the shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by

day nor the moon by night. For the Israelite traveling, this would be life or death. Shade

is life or death for them. The journey to Jerusalem would feel a lot like our heat wave last week,

leaving them vulnerable to heat strokes from the extreme heat. The Israelite traveler would have

to rely on the Lord to preserve them on their journey. So the next way that God is our keeper is

that he preserves us. Verse 5 and 6 continue to describe God working as our shelter. During the

day he protects us from the harsh sun beating down and by night he protects us from the wild

animals and other nighttime dangers. So when anxiety comes and begins to take us over or when

temptations we've been fighting for years start to come back or when finances start to look

impossible, we can remember that God will sustain us through it all. John 16 33 says, I have said

these things to you because I know that you will not be able to do it. I have said these things to

you that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take heart, I have

overcome the world. For the believer, harm or hardship is inevitable. Anxiety will come. We

will always fight our temptations. Finances won't always look how we want. See, when we follow in

the footsteps of Jesus, we are not promised an easy life. Something's going to happen somewhere

down the line, but once we belong to God, nothing can do us any real harm. As Romans 38

through 39 says, 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, which may I add, includes

anxiety, finances, relationships, losses of loved ones, the fear of losing your job. Nothing will be

able to separate you from the love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is a close love. When God is your

keeper, he is close. He is the shade on your right hand. No one is closer to you than he is. I think

of a diving suit. I've never personally been in one, but when you're in a diving suit, it is close.

It is right up on you, and you know it's there. It's hard to forget. Once you are kept by God,

there is nothing between you and God. John 10, 28 through 29 says, I give them eternal life,

and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father,

who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the

Father's hand. Nothing can take you out of God's hand, not even yourself. In verse 6, it's the

author's way of quoting Isaiah, saying, nothing will prosper against you. Nothing from man,

nothing from nature, no disease, no circumstance, no scheme of Satan has victory over you,

because none of it prevents you from being by God. None of it keeps you from an eternity

with God. God keeps us through his protection by watching over us and preserving us. And the author

wraps up this psalm in verses 7 and 8 by summarizing the first six verses. He says,

the Lord will keep you from evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out,

and your coming in from this time forth. Matthew 10, 28 says, and do not fear those who kill the

body, but cannot kill the soul. Both Jesus and the author of the psalm are looking to the Lord,

looking with an eternal perspective. Yes, in this life, there's much evil, and it affects us

almost daily, but it only has so many months. It only has so many years, and then its work

is done. So it can do its damage now, but in perspective with eternity, it's just a speck

on a chart. It might hurt now, but our souls are forever safe. We can see it at the end of verse 7.

He will keep your life. This is in our life here on earth. Hebrews says, man is appointed once to die.

One day, our physical bodies will be no more, but God keeps our eternal life. No matter how hard

this life gets, he is with us in our comings and our goings from now until forevermore. With that

said, church, where are we looking? Are we looking to ourselves? Are we looking to our spouse? Are we

looking to our finances? Or are we looking to our helper, keeper, who is the Lord? Lord, thank you

for today. Thank you just for our time together. I pray that as we go through this week, that you

would be our keeper and preserver. I pray that you would be our helper and preserver. I pray that you

would be our helper and protector, and that you would remind us of that daily. I pray that we

wouldn't get distracted by the things of life, but that we would put our eyes on you and just focus

on you with everything that we have. I pray that if someone in here doesn't know who you are, that

they would give their life to you, Lord. That they would experience that protection. They would

experience the love that you have for us. Lord, we love you, and we pray this all in your wonderful name.