There is an old Jewish custom of placing a copy of Psalm 121 in the labor and delivery room as a mother is giving birth, with the Psalm functioning as a prayer for easy labor, asking God for mercy. It is also placed in the baby's room to protect the child and surround them as they grow and learn about God.
It’s easy to cling to Psalm 121 and commit it to memory, as brief and understandable as it is. Yet, with all the mentions of mountains, shade, sun, moon—all the things of creation—my favorite part of this Psalm is how often I get to say “The Lord.” It is the answer to the initial question: “Where does my help come from?”
In his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene Peterson remarks: “Psalm 121…rejects a worship of nature, a religion of stars and flowers, a religion that makes the best of what it finds on the hills; instead it looks to the Lord who made heaven and earth. Help comes from the Creator, not from the creation.”
We know, as inhabitants of earth, that we need help and we are going to have troubles—Jesus himself assured us that we would have such troubles! (John 16:33) But no matter where we look in our daily, troubled lives, there is comfort in the knowledge that nothing that will keep us from His gaze, His care, His claim on our lives. God made each of us for a purpose, and nothing on earth can prevent that accomplishment.
My husband and I found Psalm 121 most comforting during his illness and as he approached death, claiming the promise of God watching over our “coming and going both now and forevermore”. Go ahead: memorize it, and cling to The Lord who made all things.