God keeps us; he guards us in his Son Jesus, despite anything that comes into the life of a believer. Thus the question, “where does your help come from” is answered with one word: Jesus.

I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Psalm 121:1-4

This is a song of ascents, which were songs of praise that God’s people would sing on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the various festivals. In this Psalm, David recounts several times that his help comes from the Lord. In fact, he uses the word keep or some variation of the word keep six times. Thus, the melodic line or theme of this psalm is that God keeps those who are his. Further, “Anthony Cresko points out that the word samar in v. 5a occurs in the middle of the psalm – an equal number of syllables come before and after the word – and therefore suggests that the Lord’s ‘guarding’ of the psalm-singer is the central message of the psalm.”[1]

But what does the word keep or guard mean? The NICOT (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) had this to say concerning the word keep or guard:

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