My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. “I depend on him so often for so much.”
The Lord protects you/Yahweh is your keeper, the Lord is a shelter right by your side 
The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life. The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever /  Yahweh protects you against all harm, he protects your own life. Yahweh protects your going out and coming in from now on and forever. “He has carried me through so many accidents.”
Pour over all eight verses and note each reference that suggests the psalm was written on or about a literal journey:
“‘raise my eyes toward the mountains’ (1); ‘foot to slip’ (3); ‘the sun… by day or the moon by night’ (6); ‘your coming and going’ (8)” 
For now center your attention on verse 2. What did the pilgrim call the Lord?
“‘the Maker of heaven and earth’”
What connection do you see between taking an uncertain journey and wanting a reminder that the Lord is the uncontested Maker of heaven and earth?
“Feeling a total lack of control over one circumstances and surroundings is very scary (I’m reminded of the Farmers’ Insurance ad where the man’s car has been stolen). Remembering that the Almighty Lord of the universe is in control and is concerned for us helps disperse all fears.”
58 syllables (in Hebrew) precede the phrase and translated “Yahweh is your keeper” and 58 syllables follow it.
Do you have any current need to have those truths hammered into your head, whether concerning your own life or another of God’s children? If so, what is it?
“For myself, I just need to remember to trust God more and try harder to let Him lead each of my days. My friend xxxx is afraid of and emotionally tormented by many things. My other friend, yyyy, has a lot of instability in her life.”
What is God saying to you today? “He protects me and each of them in our comings and goings by day and by night.”
What two purposes did God give man in the garden of Eden? “Work it” “Take care of it.”
God is caretaker of you and of me. He has never entrusted that job to anyone else. At no time does God abdicate your guardianship to an angel alone, regardless of how mighty. 
If [you agree that it’s scary here on earth], what has most recently made you feel this way?
“Yes, but lately I’ve been protected even from near misses. Xxxx, however, spun her mom‘s car on ice on a rural road – she had only a bit of whiplash and a little bodywork, but if another car had been near, it could’ve been far worse. Looking back a few months, I’ve had some near misses driving, and once, a little over a year ago, I came out of Sam’s to find the car nose to nose with mine had flames coming out of its engine.”
Dearest Rachel –
It’s a little eerie for me to read about how grateful you’d been for being protected from danger and accidents; the problem with such things is that one needs to be protected every single time. All it takes is one time for one not to be protected (apparently), and when it goes catastrophically wrong, it seems to negate any and all of the previous protections. I get that God has ordained our time on earth, but I’m sure you can understand why I feel this way.
And I say this, even knowing about some of the accidents that you’ve gotten yourself into in the past; the one I remember most vividly was back in 1998, when you crashed into a car while on your bicycle, and wound up on crutches for some weeks (interestingly, the reason I remember it so well is because you had to show up at an anime convention on those very crutches). Given the disproportionate nature of a collision between a bicycle and a car, there’s no questioning the fact that you could’ve been so much worse off from that particular incident. And, accidents aside, there was also the tumor behind your eye that had to be exercised, which, while not malignant (which could have been a whole other series of possibilities), could have easily blinded you had it been left undiscovered and untreated. The fact of the matter stands that I could’ve lost you so many other times before it finally happened; I should be grateful for the borrowed time I had.
But it’s still painfully challenging to think in those terms, especially when seeing older couples together enjoying each other‘s company (and even those that don’t; I’ve said before that watching couples fight with each other makes me want to slap them and ask them if they have any idea how good they have it, to have someone at their side. They used to love each other at some point – why else would they have said “I do” in the first place? – why aren’t they willing to put in the effort to keep things that way? They’re only making themselves miserable, and life’s way too short for that).
Of course, part of a point of this particular passage has to do with the fact that I still have Someone at my side as well. And for all that I might protest that His presence isn’t quite the same thing (which is quite true), I have to understand that it should be more than enough; we’re talking about the presence of the Almighty here, after all. If God Himself isn’t companion enough for my life, what makes me think there’s a mere human that can fill that empty spot?
Then again, Adam had God, and He could see that things were “not good.” So, I don’t know what to think. But I suppose that, for now, I’ll have to rely on Him; I don’t know the master plan, but if the Master does, well… I might as well let Him have it play out.
Letters to Rachel 