What would happen if the keeper(s) of the house gave up their responsibilities? Can you imagine the pile-up of dishes and dust, garbage and grime, dirty clothes and clutter? The house would soon become uninhabitable.
Now think of what would happen if the Keeper of the universe gave up his responsibilities–just on Planet Earth.
His carefully-engineered habitats for plants and animals would collapse, weather patterns conducive for agriculture would become sporadic, and the regulation of Earth’s orbit and rotation would end. Our planet would soon become uninhabitable.
Our God is indeed Keeper extraordinaire of creation!
But his preservation skills impact more than the physical realm. Skim-read these scriptures and see what categories-of-keeping you notice:
- “The Lord bless you and KEEP you [protect you, sustain you, and guard you]” (Numbers 6:24 AMP).
- “Lord God of heaven, . . . you faithfully KEEP your promise and show mercy to those who love you and obey your commandments” (Nehemiah 1:5 NIV).
- “You Lord, KEEP my lamp burning and turn darkness to light” (Psalm 18:28 CEV).
- “The Lord will KEEP you from evil; he will KEEP your life” (Psalm 121:7 ESV).
- “You will KEEP in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you” (Isaiah 26:3 NIV).
- “He will KEEP you strong to the end” (1 Corinthians 1:8 NLT).
More scriptures could be added, but even this short list makes clear: We are cared for, guarded, preserved, protected, provided for, shielded, upheld, and watched over (all synonyms for kept).
I’ve lived long enough to see much evidence of God’s keeping, including:
- His provision when the A/C repairman “just happened” to have in his truck the part we needed, slightly used but still good, which he gave us without charge.
- God’s protection when the IRS declared our son owed the government $5000. He engaged a tax accountant who verified he only owed $1500. But she also found additional deductions and discovered the IRS owed him $1500!
- God’s care during sieges of too much to do and not enough time to do it, relieved by changes of plans, help from unforeseen sources, and tasks that didn’t take as long as expected.
- God’s preservation when troubling events haven’t happened: exposure to illness and we didn’t get sick, dangerous weather projected by meteorologists turned out to be much less severe, or a meeting expected to be stressful actually went smoothly.
Such circumstances occur more frequently than we realize. In fact, “There are not five minutes in the day when [we] do not need the Almighty Keeper to keep charge of [us]” [1].
For some, however, keeping sounds constrictive, like God is repressing us under his thumb, insisting on control, spoiling our fun.
Charles Spurgeon offers a different perspective: “It is . . . a delightful thing to be kept of God . . . They are kept indeed whom God keeps: they are preserved from evil; they are reserved unto boundless happiness” [2]. The above examples offer proof.
“No, no,” some will say. “Evil happens to good people much too often; sadness intrudes upon every life. Where is God’s keeping then?”
Surely the Apostle Paul was addressed such a question, while held under house arrest in Rome.
He might have answered, “I’ve known and served Christ for many years, and have enjoyed countless blessings along with dynamic relationships. I’ve watched God perform astounding miracles and seen people’s lives transformed by faith in Christ.
“But I’ve also experienced hardship, persecution, suffering, and sorrow, including my imprisonment now. God doesn’t necessarily remove us from difficulty; he preserves us through it.
“We’re upheld by his light in darkness, his comfort in stress, his strength in trouble, his peace in upheaval, and even his joy in spite of disappointment” [3].
And because he wanted everyone to remember that nothing can interfere with God’s compassionate keeping of our lives, Paul wrote:
How has God demonstrated his compassionate keeping in your life? Please share in the comments below!
[1] Andrew Murray, The Spiritual Life, Whitaker House, 1996, 235.
[2] Faith’s Checkbook, August 4.
[3] Psalm 55:22; 139:12; 23:4; Isaiah 41:10; Nehemiah 8:10c.
Image credits: ww.flickr.com; stockcake.com; http://www.canva.com; stockcake.com; http://www.canva.com (2).
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