Keep Us

 

“The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

—Psalm 121:7-8

Often children are given responsibility for a plant, or a young pet, so that they learn the reliability it takes to keep something safe and alive. They learn the necessity for dependability and the sacred duty of a “keeper.”

Have you ever had the responsibility for taking care of another human being? A child, an elderly parent, or a sick spouse? The heavy task of such care gives comfort to the one under your watch. We want that one to feel at peace, to know that even in danger, he or she can relax, unafraid.

The older I get, the more I realize that I am incapable of taking care of myself. Yes, I do my best to live spiritually for God. But, more and more I recognize that I have nothing in me that will please Him. If left to ourselves, we produce only spiritual deadwood. We have no “life” in us but what Christ has given us. Even with the best of intentions, we utterly fail at pleasing God, of showing forth His glory, of doing His will in His way.

God has taken the responsibility of our care upon Himself. Not only does He watch over our physical and emotional needs, He has taken upon Himself the accountability for our sin, and cares for us spiritually. We would utterly fail, and die, were it not for His keeping power.

I love the prayer that Charles Haddon Spurgeon penned:

Hast Thou not said, “I, the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day”? Lord, keep us everywhere. Keep us when in the valley, that we murmur not against Thy humbling hand; keep us when on the mountain, that we wax not giddy through being lifted up; keep us in youth, when our passions are strong; keep us in old age, when becoming conceited of our wisdom, we may therefore prove greater fools than the young and giddy; keep us when we come to die, lest, at the very last, we should deny Thee! Keep us living, keep us dying, keep us labouring, keep us suffering, keep us fighting, keep us resting, keep us everywhere, for everywhere we need Thee, O our God!¹

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1Spurgeon, Charles Haddon. Morning and Evening. McLean, VA: MacDonald Publishing Co., Public Domain. p. 363.