Will God Protect You? (Psalm 121:7)

What you think about a person affects how you interpret what they say.  If you believe that somebody loves The Lord and they praise him for something, you are glad for them.  If you don't see them that way, you may view them as being fake.  If you like somebody and they give you a compliment, you are grateful, but if you don't like them, you may question what they are trying to get from you.  If a person apologizes after hurting you, you may accept it as genuine, but if you view them in a negative manner, you could judge them as insincere.  For each occasion, the words and actions that people do may be the same, but how you view the person before hand affects how you interpret those words and actions.

Our perspective of God determines how we interpret his word.  If we believe him to be loving, then we see statements in his word as loving.  If we see God as a strict judge, then we will continually interpret statements in his word as judgmental.  When it comes to trials, people have varied views.  Some view God as wanting us to be happy and that he will deliver us from all trials.  Others see him differently.

The following verse can yield different interpretations.  The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. (Psalms 121:7).  Some will think this verse promises deliverance from the trials and troubles of life and some will not see that at all.  What they believe about God will affect how they interpret it.  

In this passage, God promises to preserve the soul of the believer from evil and not the person from evil.  If this were true, then Paul and the other Apostles should never have experienced the trials that they faced in life and their subsequent martyrdom.  However in the passage, God promises to hedge about the believer's heart and keep the evil that he faces in life from overcoming his heart or soul.  Trials and troubles will be in ever believer's life, but what God promises to do for us as we face such circumstances is to hedge about our souls and keep them from being overcome by evil.  God will remain faithful to us and provide the protection that our soul needs as well as an opportunity to escape (I Corinthians 10:13).