So that the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

May the Lord will keep you from all harm—
 May He will watch over your life;

May the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.

(From Psalm 121:5-8)

I do not know exactly how many times I have shared these words standing next to a hospital bed as life is slipping away from one of God’s saints. I am not sure how many times they have been comforted by it or even how many times they could still hear my voice. But I do know that they have been my “go to” choice as I had the honor of ministering to people in their last days and hours. From the first time I shared them as a nervous 26 year-old pastoral intern to just a few weeks ago, I have been grateful that I did not need to find my own words to say but could echo those of the psalmist 3,000 years ago.

God is watching over us-we are told he “neither slumbers nor sleeps.” When its 2 AM and the hospice nurse has made her last check, he takes over the watch. When we feel painfully, hopelessly alone, he is on duty. There is not one moment of our lives, the good, the bad or the ugly that he does not lovingly monitor. The old hymn says ‘his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me.”