Hello, I am Jim Leamon, I am a friend of God TV and welcome to God Today. Today I want to share with you one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 121. You will understand why it is so relevant. It is one of the first Psalms I preached form over in Africa when I was in Uganda in June.
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in. From this time forward, and even forevermore.”
You know, I shared with the congregation in Uganda about this scripture and some of the power. One of the reasons why is we were in a small village and as we were setting up to do ministry, we were doing some medical outreach and there was a tent set up. And we were going to preach the Gospel. As they were putting out the chairs for us to get ready, I noticed that one of the workers, when he set down a chair, looked up in the tree and he moved one of the chairs over. Another worker brought a second chair and set it down in the same spot. And the same worker kind of laughed and got the chair and moved it over to the side. A third worker brought a chair over, and set it down in the same spot and he stopped him and pointed up in the tree. And hanging up in the tree was something I don’t even know how to describe. It was a little bit over a foot long. It was just something hanging in the tree. I was thinking, “Well, he doesn’t want that falling out of the tree and hitting anyone in the head.”
As we began the day and started getting going about our business, one of our team leaders came over and asked me, “Jim, will you take some of the people and go do evangelism. One of the local pastors wants us to go do evangelism.” So we went, but as we were going, walking over to the Church, the pastor said, over there is where the witch doctor’s house is. Some of us wanted to go over and witness to him, but the pastor said, “No, no, no we can’t do that.” We kept going about our business and went out and ministered.
We were out in the villages for probably about an hour before we came back to where the tent was set-up and the Gospel was being preached. I was tired and dehydrated so I was drinking a bottle of water. I heard a noise off over to the side. There were women gathered around a lady and they were praying for her and they started shouting praises, and joy. I knew something had happened. Well, I came to find out that two blind eyes and a deaf ear had been opened. That lady’s deaf ear had been closed for 20-something years and God opened it that day.
What was amazing was that when I got back to my hotel room that night, I realized when the Lord put it all together. What was hanging in that tree was a totem from the witch doctor before we ever got there. He knew we were coming to their town, the whole village was aware that that was where the witch doctor lived. They were aware of his power and he had hung that up knowing the Gospel was going to be preached there that day. But, the Lord didn’t need us to go witness to him because he opened two blind eyes to two different people that day and a deaf ear that hadn’t been opened for 20 years. We know that the Lord shall preserve you from all evil, He shall preserve your soul. He shall preserve your going out and your coming in.
No matter what you are going through right now, God can preserve you.