Life is often called a journey, but what happens when the road ahead feels uncertain? In this episode, Dallas opens up about the fear that’s come with a season of big transitions in his own life, including publishing his first book, and turns to Psalm 121, a Psalm of Ascent sung by travelers on their way to Jerusalem, to find peace. Together we walk through what it means that your guardian never sleeps, and how God has already been shielding you in ways you may not even realize.

Blog Version

Life is often called a journey, and if you’ve lived any real amount of it, you know there are seasons in that journey where you’re just unsure. Frightened, even, about what’s coming next. Not because anything is going wrong. Sometimes it’s the good stuff that does it to you.

That’s where I’ve been lately.

There’s a lot shifting for me right now, and it’s mostly good things. Geek Devotions has a con coming up. I’m out here selling salsa at a pepper festival, of all things. And in the middle of all that, I’ve got a book dropping. It releases the Monday after this episode comes out, which happens to be my 42nd birthday too.

You’d think that would just be exciting, and honestly, most of it is. But the last couple of days, as it’s gotten real, some other stuff has crept in. Is this going to help anybody? Did I waste my time on this? Will it even land the way I hope it does?

I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that before stepping into something new, but I want you to know it’s natural. This happens to everybody who’s actually taking a step forward in their life.

As I’ve been sitting with all of it, I keep coming back to Psalm 121, which is a Psalm of Ascent. These were songs the people of Israel would sing on their way to Jerusalem for the festivals, and you have to understand that trip wasn’t like hopping in a car for an hour. These were journeys of weeks, going from one town to the next, and along the way you’re carrying whatever’s going on with you. Maybe you’ve made a misstep. Maybe something’s eating at you. So they had these songs to remind themselves who God actually is in the middle of all of it.

I’m reading from the Complete Jewish Bible for this one, which pulls some of the Jewishness back into the language that gets flattened out in a lot of other translations.

Verses 1–2

If I raise my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? My help comes from Adonai, the maker of heaven and earth. 

So right here the psalmist is saying, look, I’m on this journey, I’m looking up at the hills ahead of me, and where is my help actually going to come from? And he grounds the answer in who God is. The maker of heaven and earth. The one who positioned the sun and the moon and the earth in exactly the right spot so we don’t freeze or burn up. That’s who he’s trusting.

Verses 3–4

He will not let your foot slip— your guardian is not asleep. No, the guardian of Isra’el never slumbers or sleeps. 

This is the part that gets me every time. Because even when you know the Lord, even when you’ve trusted him for years, there are seasons where you’re asking, are you awake, God? Are you watching me right now? Do you even care about what I’m going through?

And I want you to hear that he’s not asleep. That doesn’t mean you won’t go through turbulent stretches, because you will. But it means that if you’ve put your trust in him, he’s with you in it. He’s not distracted. He’s aware, and he’s walking right beside you through it.

Verses 5–6

Adonai is your guardian; at your right hand Adonai provides you with shade— the sun can’t strike you during the day or even the moon at night. 

He’s right there. Close enough to shade you. And here’s the thing I think people miss the most, myself included: we get so wrapped up in what’s currently stressing us out that we don’t stop to think about how much he’s already shielded us from, stuff we didn’t even know was a threat.

I look back over the last 41 years of my life, and I’ll be 42 this coming Monday when the book drops, and I can see it now. There were seasons where I was angry, where I didn’t understand why I was stuck somewhere, and it wasn’t until years later that I realized, man, God put me right there because he was guarding me from something else entirely.

Verses 7–8

Adonai will guard you against all harm; he will guard your life. Adonai will guard your coming and going from now on and forever. 

That last part is the one I keep sitting with. Not just this season. Not just this book, this transition, whatever you’re walking through right now. All of it, going forward, from here on out.

So wherever you’re at, whatever you’re dealing with right now, I want you to remember that the Lord, your guardian, is not asleep. He’s watching you. He’s walking with you. And he’s going to provide for you as you keep putting your trust and your faith in him.

And if you’ve got people in your life who’ve helped carry you through your own version of this, take a second and thank them today. My wife and I would not have survived half of what we’ve walked through without the people God put around us. That provision isn’t always money. Sometimes it’s just somebody being a voice of wisdom, or somebody willing to pray with you when things are hard.