Who’s Your Keeper?
January 10, 2019
January 10, 2019
Read: Psalm 121
The LORD is your keeper. (v. 5)
The town soccer program needed coaches and, despite never having played the game, I agreed to help my child’s kindergarten group. How hard could it be? After a couple weeks of practice came our first game. The referee called out, “Coach, who’s your keeper?” I had no idea what he meant until a parent on the sideline informed me about the position of goalkeeper. We had not practiced that. It turns out a keeper is pretty important in soccer! Those poor kindergartners!
We all need a keeper. Without a keeper we are literally defenseless. Psalm 121 is a “Song of Ascents,” one of many which the Israelites sang as they journeyed from distant places to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem. As they crossed dangerous stretches of wilderness, scorching heat fatigued them by day and moonlit nights exposed them to bandits from the hills. You can see how fear could be a constant companion. That’s why this psalm repeatedly names God as Israel’s keeper. Because God keeps, they can sleep and rise again (v. 8) without fear of hills or heat or thieves.
God as the believer’s keeper promises we are both kept by God and kept for God. God keeps us as his treasured possession (1 Peter 2:9-10) so that he may give us the inheritance of our salvation, which is kept in heaven for us (1 Peter 1:4). What remarkable intimacy and strong defense! No wonder Romans 8:39 celebrates that nothing “in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.” —Jon Opgenorth
As you pray, praise God your keeper.
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