Psalms 121 (ESV Strong's)
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
He Keep Us!
In the above song, the author uses the word “keep” four times. The word is used in the OT over 400 times. The first time the word is used is in Genesis when God put man in the Garden of Eden and told him to “keep” it. The implication was that man was to watch over it, prune it, nurture it and/or tend to whatever needs the garden had. In the above song we are told that God is the “keeper” of us. We are His garden. He watches over us and nurtures us, prunes us, care for us and helps us (enables us) to grow. He gives us several truths why God does this and can do this:
1. He made us. He crated heaven and earth and therefore has both the power and the interest to care for us. We are His creation.
2. He is constantly on the job. When we go to sleep at night, we are not watching our children, our possessions, or even our own lives. Our slumber puts us at risk. This is why we lock doors before we go to bed at night. We hope a $30.00 lock will be our safety. We can rejoice that God “keeps” us because He is constantly doing His work in our lives to watch over us. He does not sleep or slumber. He constantly is watching over us.
3. He is constantly available for us to protect us, like shade from the sun. The best picture of this truth is seen in the story of Israel in their wilderness traveling. God sent a cloud to cover them from the sun during the day and a fire to give them warmth at night. The cloud and fire were physically helpful. But, they were, more importantly, the actual presence of God. Today we don’t see Him, but by faith we know He is there. The significance of the “right hand” in the above passage is, of course, a reference to Christ seated at the right hand of God. Christ has the authority to “keep” us. It was given to Him by the Father.
4. He is doing this on a permanent basis. The Lord is keeping us from evil and protecting us. He is going this “from this time forth and forevermore.” That is permanent. He is not going to give up to us or give in to us. He is persistent and consistent in His overwatch of us.
We can rejoice that we have a KEEPER. He never sleeps and is always there to assure us of His good favor upon us.
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