YFC Canada
Registered Charity #106868847RR0001
© 2021 Youth for Christ
ePray | Lectio Divina: Ep. 44 Psalms
Listen to the episode here, or read the transcript below – and don’t forget to tune in weekly!
ePray | Episode 44| March 9, 2026
Lectio Divina: Psalms
With Carissa Plett – Lifeteams (Greater Vancouver Youth Unlimited)
Share
Share
Lectio Divina: Psalms
Date: March 9, 2026
Scripture: Psalms 121:7-8
Carissa Plett
Part 1: Inward Focus
Welcome, friends! Our theme today is the Psalms and I’m glad you’re joining me to slow down in God’s presence for a few moments. I invite you to take a few slow, deep breaths…in and out…in and out…notice what happens in your body as you do this. Is there tension you can release? Hurried thoughts you can put aside? Try to let them go as you breathe…in and out.
Holy Spirit, we offer you our attention now and we welcome you to nudge us in the direction of your love and your perspective in these moments…
Today our scripture is found in Psalm 121: 7-8. Listen as I read from the New Living Translation:
The Lord keeps you from all harm
And watches over your life
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
Both now and forever.
What is your initial reaction to these ideas – that God keeps you from harm and watches over you?
Pause
What does your reaction tell you about who you currently experience God to be?
Pause
I’ll read our verses again:
The Lord keeps you from all harm
And watches over your life
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
Both now and forever.
What areas or situations in your life do you most need God’s watch and care in right now? Take a moment to tell him about it. Or: where do you feel you’re already experiencing God’s watch and care? Take a moment to thank him for it!
Pause
Part 2: Outward Focus
As I read this scripture again, bring to mind a youth you know who might be in harm’s way…
The Lord keeps you from all harm
And watches over your life
The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
Both now and forever.
Knowing that youth we care about often experience harm – sometimes from others, sometimes from themselves – makes this a hard passage to digest for me. Maybe you also feel this way at times. Take a few moments to speak honestly to God about the harm that it seems he doesn’t prevent in the lives of youth you care about…what do you want to ask him about that?
Pause
What might it change in the lives of the youth you’ve brought to mind if they believed there was a God who cared enough to watch over them as they come and go, and who desired their wholeness instead of their harm?
Spend a minute asking God to reveal himself to these youth in ways they can recognize.
Pause
Closing thought:
The verses we’ve read today come at the end of one of the ‘pilgrim psalms,’ likely sung by God’s people as they ascended the hill up to Jerusalem for an annual festival. They were on their way to worship, perhaps calling to mind what they needed from God in order for a safe journey, and reminding themselves what their faithful God was capable of so they would have courage for their pilgrimage. Maybe we can receive this as a reminder today to trust this same faithful God with our own journeys.
Part 3: Closing Prayer
As you take a few more deep breaths…in and out…let’s close with an ancient prayer for God’s peace and protection as we entrust ourselves into his care.
O God,
from whom all holy desires, all good counsels,
and all just works do proceed:
give to your servants that peace
which the world cannot give;
that our hearts may be set to obey your will;
and that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies,
may pass our time in rest and quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.