The Helper Who Never Falls Asleep

(a poem from Psalm 121)

When the dark comes down
and the house grows quiet,
when the shadows stretch long on the wall,
do you ever look up?

Up past the ceiling.
Up past the roof.
Up past the high, far hills
where the night is hiding.

Where will my help come from?
That is what the old song asks.
On a lonely road, under a wide sky,
a tired traveler looks up and wonders.

And the song sings back its answer.

Your help comes from the One
who made those hills.
Long before, when the world was brand new,
he set them in their places.
He hung the sky.
He scooped out the sea
and filled it to the brim.
He made it all,
and he made you.

While you are sleeping,
he is still keeping watch.

He will not let your foot slip.
He holds you steady
when the path is dark and you cannot see.
And he does not fall asleep.

Other helpers get tired.
Mothers nod off. Watchmen yawn.
Even the bravest guard, deep in the night,
lets his eyes fall shut.
But the One who keeps you never slumbers.
He does not even blink.

All night long, while the whole world dreams,
his eyes are open.
Watching you.
Glad to be watching you.

He is the shade beside you in the heat.
He is the One the sun cannot burn past,
the One the moon cannot frighten.
He keeps you from all harm.

He keeps your going out,
when you step through the door into the morning.
He keeps your coming in,
when you climb back into your bed at night.
He keeps your whole life,
the going and the coming,
from this moment
and forever.

The people who first sang this song
were waiting.
They sang of a Keeper who never sleeps,
and their hearts leaned forward,
hungry to see his face.

They did not know it yet,
but the One they were singing about
was coming to walk their roads himself.

And he did.
A Shepherd, out on the dark water,
asleep in a tossing boat
while his frightened friends cried out.
He stood up,
and the storm went quiet,
and they were safe.

That same Shepherd
is the One who keeps you.

You do not even have to wake him.
He is already awake,
already watching over your going out
and your coming in.

When the dark comes down tonight,
and the shadows stretch long on the wall,
you can close your eyes.

You can close your eyes
because he never closes his.