Every human life, without exception, is an alternation of waking and sleeping, and

there is bound to come a time when sleep will rob even the most vigilant and

conscientious guard of all power to carry out his duty. There is, however, more than this

in Psalm 121: 4.  It is not merely for the sake of the poetry of the passage that the

Psalmist uses the two expressions "slumber" and "sleep". The two words have not quite

the same meaning. "To sleep" (Heb. yashen) means "to fall asleep" involuntarily, as

when a deep sleep fell upon Adam (Gen. 2: 21), or when man "sleeps the sleep of death"

(Psa. 13: 3). "To slumber" (Heb. num), on the other hand, refers more to "drowsiness",

something that might be shaken off and overcome. In Proverbs we read that "drowsiness

shall clothe a man with rags" (Prov. 23: 21), and Nahum's charge against the rulers of

Nineveh is expressed in the words: "Thy shepherds slumber." Of false shepherds of

Israel, we read in Isaiah:

The Lord neither "slumbers" through lack of interest, nor "sleeps" because of frailty.

He is indeed a very present help in trouble.

However watchful and wakeful a human sentinel may be, his eyes cannot possibly be

"in every place'. No such limitations, however, are to be found in the Lord as our great

Refuge. He will ever be "a very present help in trouble", for He is "ever present".

"Whither shall I flee from Thy presence?" asked the Psalmist, and we know the answer.

"Whether he ascend to heaven, or descend to hell, there will He still be found."

Moreover, the most watchful and vigilant of human guards is baffled by the fall of

darkness, but this is not so with the Lord, for we read in Psalm 139::

Here, then, is ground for assurance, quiet confidence and peace. Our Refuge is God

Himself, and that being so, it must necessarily partake of His glorious attributes. He is

eternal, He is almighty, He is ever-present, and we therefore have His encompassing

protection by night and by day, in darkness and in light, unceasing, unwearied, and