God Is Our Keeper - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, July 19th. God sustains us, guides us, and comforts us. Simply put, God is our keeper. Today's podcast focuses on God's character as the foundation for all of our assurance. A hundred and twenty-first Psalm, and I want us to see how practical this is because God has something very specific and practical to say to every single one of us no matter who we are. He begins by saying, I will lift up my eyes to the mountains or to the hills. From whence shall my help come?

That's a question. Well, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper.

The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil.

He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. Now, more than likely, the psalmist, when he begins here by saying, I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, he could have been thinking one of a number of things, but probably one of the things that he was thinking about was this, that in the hill country, in the mountains, usually the robbers and the vagabonds and the thieves, they would hang out there and taking advantage of innocent travelers who were going their way. So it may be that he was looking at these mountains with a bit of anxiety and wondering what was there. And so when the psalmist says, I'm looking to the hills, where's my help coming from?

I'm looking to those challenges out there in life. Where's my help coming from when I face one of these challenges, when I face danger or face heartache or face trouble? My help comes from none other than Jehovah God, the eternal one who is the creator of the heavens and the earth. And if he created the heavens and the earth, he can certainly take care of what is in the mountains waiting for me. He can certainly take care of whatever difficulty and hardship lies in my future.

He can certainly take care of all the uncertainties of my life because he is the one who says he established his throne in the heavens and his sovereignty rules over all. He is the God to whom you and I look. Now, everything he says from that point on rests upon the foundation that he knows who his God is. With that in mind, what I want us to do is to look at the rest of this psalm and apply it to our life in a very practical way because he certainly saw it in a very practical way. And the terminology he uses and the phrases he uses here, upon first reading, you think, well, what in the world is that about? What he's doing, he is simply saying, these are all the ways that God keeps me.

Now, look, if you will, and I want you to notice something. If you notice, first of all, in verse three, he says, he will not allow your foot to slip. He who keeps you will not slumber. Then he says again in verse four, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. He says in verse five, the Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade. Verse seven, he says, the Lord will protect you from all evil. He will keep your soul. So four times we read the word keep here. But I want you to notice something else. There are two other words here that are the same Hebrew words as the word keep in these four verses, these four times.

Now, I want you to notice what they are. Verse seven, the Lord will protect you from all evil, protect, keep you, same Hebrew word, keep you. Then he says, the Lord will guard your going out, your coming in. Same Hebrew word, keep your going out and your coming in.

So six times it is found there. And so when we talk about God keeping us, we're talking about God who is caring for us, protecting us, providing for us, watching over us, whose eye is intently observing us. And so the rest of this passage tells us how God keeps you and me as his children.

So look at it, if you will. So first of all, he says beginning in this third verse, he says, he will not allow your foot to slip. What does that have to do with keeping me? Here's what it has to do with keeping me.

Here's what it says. It's a way of saying that God is very, very attentive to you and me. That is, if God is observing, if he is watching where I step, if he's watching my sense of direction, if he's watching the path that I'm on, if he is observing and he is attentive to my walk, God is certainly expressing his caring about how you and I walk, where we walk, where we should not walk and where we ought to walk. That is, the truth is that everybody's feet should carry them to a place of worship on the Lord's day. But how many people's feet do not carry them there?

They have no earthly idea and absolutely no interest in the things of God. But he says he keeps our foot from slipping. Now, does that mean that he keeps us from sinning? Well, certainly there's something here about that later on, but that's not what he's referring to. He's not saying that he will keep you and me from sinning necessarily, but he keeps our foot from slipping.

Now, what is he referring to? Simply this, David more than likely, who spent a lot of his times in the mountains and in treacherous areas, oftentimes found himself in those places that there were dangers. God was keeping him. What is he saying to you and me? You and I also walk through difficult times and situations and circumstances that we can't control, oftentimes that are not clear to us. Sometimes it's a little dark in our pathway. Sometimes we're walking on the precipices of life and decisions that we make, and we're not even sure ourselves if we're going to be able to do it.

So what does he say? He says, when you and I are walking in the will of God, God is going to keep our foot from slipping. If I choose to deliberately, willfully disobey God, then what happens? Then God's keeping power. If I choose to step off the cliff, God isn't necessarily going to keep me from doing so.

When he says he keeps our foot from slipping, that's God's way of saying, I'm going to keep you. That is, I'm going to keep you on the path. There may be potholes out there. There may be trenches out there.

There may be some very, very, very narrow ways that you're going to have to walk. He says, I'm going to keep you. I love you. I'm caring for you.

I'm your keeper. I am attentive to where you have to walk. I'm attentive to what you have to walk through. I'm attentive to those things when oftentimes you cannot see your way clear. It's as if you're walking in the fog, as if you're walking in the dark, and you can't, you don't know how or what to do.

He says, I am your keeper, and I'm going to keep your feet from slipping. All of us know this passage of the twenty-third Psalm that says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. What is the reason we fear no evil? I will fear no evil for what? Thou art with me.

Thy rod and thy staff, they come for me. It is his presence. It is God's keeping power in those difficult trying times when we have to walk through the valleys of life. He says he'll keep our feet from slipping. That is, what he's simply saying is, I am there to sustain you, to establish you, to protect you, to watch over you in those times when you cannot see your way clear and you're having to walk in a place or turn in a direction that you've never had to walk before in your life. Second thing I want you to notice here, he not only is attentive, but he is very alert. This is what he means.

Look at this, if you will. He says, he will not allow your foot to slip. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel, neither will slumber nor sleep. Now, what is he simply saying?

Simply this, that God is alert to every single aspect of our life. Thank God, listen, you and I get tired, we get weary, we get worn. At a certain time every night, we're ready to go to bed. It's time to go to sleep.

We're just sort of worn out and we've had a full day. The interesting thing about God is he never sleeps. He doesn't even have to take a cat nap. In other words, God doesn't get tired and weary and worn out and take a nap. And if you'll think about that, God's eye is, listen, his eye is eternally upon us. He is alert to every single aspect of our life. He sees things coming in your life before you and I see them. He knows what's in the future and we do not. He is alert to every single move we have because what? He says he will never leave us nor forsake us.

If he never leave us nor forsake us, then he must be alert to every single aspect of our life. Somebody says, but oh, wait a minute, now what about in Genesis chapter two when the Bible says that when God finished the creation, he rested? Well, the Bible says he rested when he finished the creation, which simply means he completed it and it was over. But nowhere does the Bible say that God naps, that God takes a break, that God sleeps.

Thank God he doesn't. And once in a while when you and I are praying and asking for something that doesn't come to pass, we want it to, we think, God, where are you? Well, he's certainly not asleep. He's certainly listening to what we say. God is at no time, at no point in your life and mine, at no point in time is God unconscious, oblivious to what's going on in your life and mine.

He knows every single thing that is going on. He is Jehovah God who rules and reigns over this universe in every single one of our lives. You and I will never know what he's protected us from in life until we get on the other side. He is attentive and he is alert to our every need, everything that's happening in our life.

Why? The Bible says he is indeed our keeper. And we say, my God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches in glory.

In Christ Jesus according to what Paul said in Philippians chapter 4 verse 19. God, listen, he can only do that if he is alert to my needs, attentive to my needs. But notice the third thing he says in a very practical way about God being our keeper. He says, he will not allow your foot to slip. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. Now what does he mean by that?

Simply this, he's our protector. And so when he says that he's our shade on our right side, he's simply saying this, God, Jehovah God, infinite in wisdom, absolutely in power, unwavering in his faithfulness, is standing by our side. Remember what Jesus said? He said, I'm not going to leave you disciples. I'm not going to leave you comfortless.

I'm not going to leave you as like orphans. He says, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. He'll be in you, with you, and upon you.

When he called him the comforter, the word in the Greek is parakletos, which means the one who walks by Messiah, the one who stands by Messiah. When he says he is your keeper, he's your shade on your right hand, what is he saying? That God the Father, listen, God the Father and the person of the Holy Spirit is always by our side. Living on the inside of us, yes, always by our side is our protector.

Doing what? Always equipping us and making us ready for any satanic attack that comes our way. When we're not aware of our circumstances, he is always aware and he stands by our side to protect us in every single circumstance of life. Does that mean that he will keep us from sinning?

Not necessarily. If we choose to sin against him, no, he will not. But he certainly is there to warn us and to give us the privilege of avoiding it, if at all possible. Now, I think about Psalm 16. Look at, begin if you're on verse seven. I will bless the Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. Listen, when you and I go to sleep at night, wake up in the night, listen, one of the wisest things you can do when you go to sleep at night is simply whisper this prayer. Lord, if you have something to say to me, awaken me to tell me. Lord, if you have something to say to me, let me awaken to hear your voice. Listen, God oftentimes chooses those quiet times when there is no disturbance, no other voice, not even in the light. In the darkness of the night, oftentimes God speaks through our heart because there he has our absolute perfect, listen, undisturbed attention. So the Psalmist says, he says, speak to me. That is, speak to my heart. I want to be available to hear you.

Instruct me in the night. Then he says in verse eight, I've set the Lord continually before me, not just during the day, continually before me because he is at my right hand, I'll not be shaken. I've set the Lord continually before me, which is his way of saying, I want to live moment by moment aware of his presence, that wherever I am, there he is. Whatever's going on, there he is. Whatever I'm going through, there he is. Whatever I face, there he is. Whatever's good, there he is. Whatever's bad, there's whatever evil, there he is. God is always there.

He is there not only for as our provider, but he's there as our protector. He says, he is my shade on my right hand. And so he says, I've set him before me. I've set him as at my right side to protect me, and therefore he says, I will not be shaken.

And therefore, the Psalmist, as he thought about himself and thought about how God worked in his life, he could see himself in the same fashion. Now notice, if you will, if you'll think about your life for a moment, all of us have strong points. All of us have strengths in our life. We all have strengths, but we also all have weaknesses. And usually the thing that we guard about, we guard the most are those areas of weakness in our life. If I should say to you, do you have any area of weakness in your life?

If you were to say no, then I would say to you, you have a big weakness because every single one of us have those points at which Satan, listen, he can get us there quicker than any other place. But you say, well, then what about the strengths? Well, the strengths also can become our greatest weakness if we're not careful. Because you see, where you're the strongest is what you do.

You naturally let down your guard. Well, you know, I could never be tempted with drugs. I could never be tempted with alcohol.

In other words, just write those two off for certain. Well, there may be a lot of other things you think you couldn't be tempted with, but the truth is, listen, God and God alone can protect us in every single circumstance of life. That's why we all need Him. Listen, attentively watching over us, alert to every circumstance of our life, we need Him continuously. Then I want you to notice something else He says here, and we ask ourselves, well, what in the world is He implying here? Then He says, The Lord is your keeper, verse 5, the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.

Well, now, what's He referring to here? He's simply saying to us this, that God's keeping power is continuous. God's going to keep us in the daytime. God's going to keep us in the night.

He's going to keep us through the night. There is no time in which God, who is our keeper, is not busy doing exactly what He promised, and that is, He's keeping us. Now, our friends would like to help us at times. Times they can't. Their family would like to help us at times.

Times they cannot. Listen, there are circumstances and experiences in life in which you and I face, or will face, that nobody under God's heaven can help us in those moments but God Himself. And my friend, if you do not know Him as your Savior, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you don't know God in a personal way, when you hit those times that are like deserts in your life, like hurricanes and tornadoes meeting together in your life, then who do you have? Friends can only do so much. And is it not true that oftentimes when the bottom drops out and all hell breaks loose in your life, those people you thought were your friends, they're gone too?

Then what do you have? God is the only one who can say continuously, morning, noon, and night, circumstance after circumstance, heartache, trouble, trial, tribulation. He says, I am reliably there.

I will never leave you nor forsake you, no matter what. God is our keeper. He never comes up short.

He never fails. He knows exactly what our needs are. Morning, noon, and night, He knows what they are.

Every single moment of our day, Almighty God, Jehovah God, infinite in wisdom, knows all about us. Absolute in power, has all the power necessary to meet every single need we have. Unwavering in His faithfulness, He can always be trusted, always to be depended upon. He is always there, no matter what, working in your life and my life to do what?

Doing what He promised to do. He's keeping us, protecting us, guiding us, watching over us, providing our every single need. That's the kind of God He is. He is a keeper.

He is a caretaker. He loves us. He wants the best for us. God has planned His infinite best for every single one of us. If we're not experiencing God's best, it's not God's fault. He doesn't say, now, how little can I do in that person's life?

I'm just going to make it so they'll always only be able just to scrape by and skip by. That's not the God of the Bible. If there's any skipping and scraping going on, if God allows it, there is a purpose for it. But more than likely, God has something far better. But if I don't recognize His presence, if I don't see Him as my keeper, listen, if I'm relying upon my own strength and my own ingenuity and my own abilities and my own talents, if I'm relying upon somebody else to do this for me and somebody else to do that for me, I'm going to miss God's best. And there will be people who will live their lives always looking to somebody else to do something for them.

Instead of giving their best and instead of taking the trials and taking the test and being willing to step out in the unknown and being willing to trust God when we don't know where to go and what to do next, it's those people, listen, when we trust Him, God honors our faith. And what will He do? He will keep you through the storm. He will keep you through the deep waters. He will keep you no matter what. He is committed to that. And He says, listen, I am your keeper. He says, I will protect you.

And He says, whether the sun is shining on you in the daytime or whether it's in the evening, no matter what, He says, I'm going to keep you through those times. Thank you for listening to God Is Our Keeper. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by In Touch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.