The Counselee’s Hope: Psalm 121
The older I get, the more I realize I’m prone to forgetfulness. I don’t typically lose my keys or glasses, but I am more prone to forgetting appointments, tasks, or why I walked into a room. It’s humbling—and a reminder that forgetfulness isn’t just physical. I (and you, too) am prone to spiritual forgetfulness too.
That’s why Peter wrote to “stir you up by way of reminder” (2 Peter 1:13; 3:1). Like Peter’s readers, our counselees often forget who God is and what He has promised. Temptation invites them to forget God’s grace. Suffering tempts them to forget His care. In counseling, one of our most vital tasks is to help them remember.
Psalm 121 is a song for forgetful pilgrims. As the Israelites ascended the hills toward Jerusalem to worship for one of the three annual feasts, they sang of the God who keeps His people. This is one of the songs they sang (Psalms 120–134). Psalm 121 is a short psalm, but rich in truth about the Lord’s preserving care. It teaches that our hope in suffering is not in our ability to endure, but in God’s faithful watchfulness.
Psalm 121 shows four ways God preserves His people—truths our counselees need to remember. After observing how God reveals Himself in this passage, we will also observe some ways the psalm might be used in the counseling context.
1. God Is the Creator Who Sustains His People (vv. 1–2)
The psalm opens with a question: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?”
To the traveler, on his way to celebrate an annual festival, those hills were dangerous. Thieves hid among the rocks ready to rob and do physical harm. The psalmist’s gaze upward is not one of peace or anticipation of refuge; he sees danger ahead and asks, “Where will help come from?”
Like the psalmist, we and our counselees live in a difficult world and we will have trouble. We might grieve over broken relationships and unsaved loved ones and too much month at the end of our money. We might have rebellious teens, experience prolonged illness, or death. We are surrounded by mountains of trouble just like the worshippers of Israel were surrounded by actual trouble in the mountains.
But the psalmist quickly answers his own question: “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
In counseling, this is the first reminder to offer the sufferer: the One who created everything is able to sustain everything—including you. If God can make the world, He can uphold His people. His creative power guarantees His sustaining power.
This verse is also profoundly personal. The psalmist calls God “the Lord”—Yahweh, the covenant name that speaks of His faithful love to His people. The Creator is not distant; He is near, loyal, and willing to help His particular people. For counselees who claim the Lord is distant and uncompassionate, this song gently reminds of His loving compassion to each of His people and that He is attentive to their needs. He knows, He cares, and He is capable.
When our counselees are tempted to despair, we want to help them speak the truth of God’s character to their trembling hearts. Their help does not come from within, but from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
2. God Is the Keeper Who Protects His People (vv. 3–4)
The psalmist moves from the first person (“my help”) to the second (“your help”). Having reminded himself of truth, he now speaks it to others—the pattern for every counselor. Like Ezra, we are to study, practice, and then teach (Ezra 7:10).
The key word in this psalm appears six times: “keep” (vv. 3, 4, 5, 7 [2x], 8). God is our Keeper—the Guardian of the souls of His people.
The phrase “He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber” in verse 3 anticipates the dangers the pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem might face on their journey through the mountains. The travelers might fear falling on rocky paths or being ambushed while they slept. But the psalmist declares that God never dozes. Pagan gods slept; human guards fail; but the Lord neither slumbers nor sleeps. The song means the traveler can rest both physically and spiritually with contented confidence that God is caring for him.
This allusion to sleep is a reminder of the reader’s daily dependence on God. While some of His creation needs no sleep (e.g., all of plant life), God designed us to need rest so that every 24-hour cycle (up to a third of each day!) we are reminded that we are not God. But He is. And we sleep safely because He does not.
Verse 4 expands that picture: the God who keeps Israel also keeps you. The same omnipotent Guardian who sustains the entire covenant community also watches over the individual believer. Your counselee is never unseen or unguarded. The Creator of the universe is his personal Protector. The pilgrim traveler is safe under the protective care of the Lord. And our counselees (and we) are also safe under the watchful protection of the unchanging God.
3. God Is the Keeper Who Comforts His People (vv. 5–6)
The psalmist continues: “The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.”
Here “shade” speaks of both protection and comfort. The desert sun could scorch travelers; the cold or fears of night could unsettle them. God’s presence shields from both—the visible and the unseen threats. The same God who guards also comforts. The believer’s comfort is not found in circumstance, but in presence—“the Lord is your shade.”
Children who are frightened at night need the reassurance that someone is near. So the Christian parent says to him, “Be still. Calm down. Let’s pray. God is here, watching, and taking care of you. You can trust Him!” We acknowledge the presence of God as the Keeper to provide comfort to the unsettled child, and He provides the same comfort for the unsettled counselee (or counselor).
In His earthly ministry, Christ gave this same promise: “Peace I leave with you…Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:27). The “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3–4) meets us in our affliction so we can, in turn, comfort others.
4. God Is the Keeper Who Always Watches Over His People (vv. 7–8)
The psalm closes with breathtaking assurance: “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 forth and forevermore.”
This doesn’t mean believers will avoid pain. Notice very carefully how He will keep us from all evil—the psalmist says He will keep your soul. That means that the spiritual life of the follower of God is protected. We may suffer physically—even suffering persecution—but that physical infirmity cannot touch our souls. The Lord is protecting our inner man and our eternal condition.
So David was able to say, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Peter echoed the same confidence: believers are “kept by God’s power through faith for salvation” (1 Peter 1:5).
God guards our “going out and coming in”—every sphere of daily life. He watches as we rise, labor, suffer, and rest. No location or moment escapes His care and evil will never prove victorious against God’s people.
And He guards “from this time forth and forever.” His unceasing protection doesn’t expire at death; it extends into eternity. The God who keeps us today will keep us tomorrow and forever.
Ultimately, this psalm points to Christ, the true Keeper of our souls. The pilgrim looked ahead to the Messiah’s redemption; we look back to its fulfillment. Christ has already conquered the greatest threat to our souls—sin itself. For counselees who don’t yet know Him, there is no real hope until they trust the One who bore God’s wrath on their behalf.
Implications for Counseling
How might this psalm be used in counseling? Note some of the theology that is revealed in it that can be used to minister to your counselees and then think about some circumstances in which it might be ministered.
Theology Proper:
Psalm 121 reminds us of who God is. He is omniscient—fully aware of all that is in His people’s lives. He is omnipotent—never weary, never off duty. He is the Creator, eternal, loyal, and transcendent. Above all, He alone saves and sustains the soul.
Anthropology:
The psalm also defines humanity rightly: finite, dependent, and vulnerable. Trouble is normal, not unusual. We live in a fallen world, but we worship a faithful God within it. Trials are not signs of abandonment; they are opportunities for worship and trust.
Practical Use:
Psalm 121 is especially helpful when counseling:
those oppressed or sinned against by others (v. 1)
those suffering physical illness or loss (v. 5)
those tempted to be fearful or anxious about the future (v. 8)
Whatever your counselee’s burden, the Father’s care is over him and with him. He need not despair.