Psalm 121, a Song of Ascent; notes from Travis.

Psalms 120-134
These are the Psalms known as the "Songs of Ascent". The Hebrews would sing these songs when they would climb the hills to Jerusalem.

Christianity is referred to as "the way". It is a journey, a road that we are on.
The path you're on will determine your destination.
The important thing is the direction of the path, it's a series of choices that leads to the end of the journey.

We are on a spiritual journey through our lives, and our goal is the new Jerusalem in heaven.

Psalm 121...

Verse 1
"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?"
At this time, pagans had a number of deities that they worshiped, like the sun and such. They thought that high places were places of holiness. This is a metaphor because they are looking at the mountains for their help, but help is not from the mountains, it comes from the Lord!

Verse 3
"He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber."
Baal (a false god) was known to sleep a lot, and priests had to wake him up. Our God does not sleep, He watches over our every footstep. He is vigilant in watching over us and this verse is likely a direct reference to Baal and other pagan gods.

Verse 6
"The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night."
How does the moon harm us? Well there was something called moon sickness. It was more of an emotional sickness. The sun could physically harm us in the daytime but the moon mentally harms us, but God won't let that happen.

Verse 7
"The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul."
The Lord will keep us from all harm! Except we have all been physically and emotionally harmed... What does that mean?
He will never let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. Nothing we ever experience can separate us from the love of God against our will.

Six times in these eight verses, it mentions the Lord watching over us or keeping us. FLIPPANCY IS A DANGEROUS THING. We have lost the meaning of words.

What does being kept by the Lord really mean?

He will keep us on the path. When we are on this path, we will never reach our destination in this earthly life. The journey IS the goal. We have to stay on this road and He will keep us on it so that we can reach our destination when this life is over.

[Update January 4, 2014: I am aware that some of the grammar is atrocious, and this is confusing at times to read. I am taking these straight from the notes, and I am loathe to change them much. My newer notes are much clearer and incorporate my own thoughts.]

Keep on Asking.

"And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9, NLT)

The power of persistent prayer is incredible. Strength rises up in your voice as you continuously seek God's answer to your prayers. Rest assured that He will always answer: through fulfillment of your prayer, a firm "no", or by guiding your heart in a different direction, causing you to no longer seek the answer to that prayer. Go ahead and pray a specific prayer daily.