Good News about God: The Lord is Your Keeper

Oswald Chambers: “When we preach, we are not simply proclaiming how people can be saved from hell and be made moral and pure; we are conveying good news about God."

Good news about God: The Lord is Your Keeper (Psalm 121; Jude 24,25)

Psalm 121 begins with the psalmist looking to the hills. In Scripture hills and mountains can be picture language for difficulties and hardships, and I'll apply that here. He sees the looming difficulties in his life then asks, “Where will I get help for this?” He shifts his eyes to the Lord and confesses that his help comes from the Creator God.

But the psalmist doesn’t stop there; he goes on to tell the good news about this Maker of the heavens and the earth so that we have a right view of Him and are therein empowered to trust in Him rather than in the power and threat of the difficulties.

There is strong emphasis in this psalm on the Lord being our Keeper. The words “keep” and “keeper” appear six times in this short psalm. The meaning of the word “keep” has different variations to it in the Scriptures, but the common ideas that come through the meanings are:
• To watch or keep an eye on or take heed or pay careful attention to
• To hem in or restrict or detain or withhold
• To protect or guard or attend to

I find that among sincere followers of Jesus there is genuine concern to be faithful and true to Jesus; we spend a lot of emotional energy wondering what it looks like to be true and faithful to Him in the face of our “mountains”. If we don't understand His heart and ways, we easily fall into the religious trap of trying to make it by performance (sheer gritting our teeth to stick to a long list of "do's and don'ts") or we give up entirely because we soon discover that we have no hope of ever fulfilling the requirements. In either case our heart eventually becomes hardened and shut down by spiritual pride or through giving ourselves over to the flesh.

We must know the “good news about God” in order to find rest and not fall into the traps of spiritual competition or spiritual lethargy. According to Psalm 121, He is keeping His eye on me constantly, paying careful attention, hemming me in with great precision and placing boundaries around me that constrain and steer me towards becoming increasingly like Him, protecting and guarding me from destruction. He is fully awake and alert to me every moment and is never caught dozing on the job. It is He who will lead my heart and steps into faithfulness; I can't do that for myself. I don't have enough zeal and energy and desire to see myself through all the obstacles that arise to hinder my progress.

"The Lord is your Keeper"; this is good news about God, because a Person who would do all of this for me (and for all of His children) has got to have an unbelievable interest and desire for me! I'm not just one of millions that He is madly trying to keep up with but am the object of His focus and affections. The more I look at (contemplate) such a Person, the more I am empowered to remain true to Him now and as the Day of the Lord approaches, because my heart is energized to want to be with such a Person.

My role is to stay in His love (Jude 21). In other words, I keep re-focusing on His nature and letting Him love me at all times (especially when I feel most undeserving of it) and I respond in love to Him.

If you want to meditate (chew on) this piece of good news about God, the following Scriptures will help: Gen. 28:15; 28:20,21; Psalm 121; II Thess. 3:3; Phil. 4:7; Jude 24, 25. (Portions about the cross from Isaiah 53 and the four Gospels are also wonderful passages to ponder in order to gain understanding of His fiery passion for His own.)

God bless you as you consider Him!