Those Who Are Kept, Keep
“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.” Pslam 121:5
If we are able to own our need of help and ask for the limitless, uninterruptible help from the LORD that Psalm 121 promises, what would life look like? What are the implications of being kept and helped by such a mighty God and faithful Father?
I love taking my daughter to her gymnastics practices. Though the viewing gallery is separated from the gym floor by a glass wall, we often enjoy a silent conversation back and forth throughout the practice time. Knowing that my eye is upon her and her alone sets her free to enjoy (not merely survive) and extend (not merely receive) care to others around her.
The truth is that we all long for someone else’s mind to be full of us, their eyes focused upon us, and for their hearts to care for and keep up with what we are experiencing and doing. We long to be seen, watched over, and cherished.
Psalm 121 assures us again and again that God is watching – not to scold, not to find fault, and not to scrutinize and evaluate your every move. He is watching with love in his eyes and support in his fingertips.
With such dear security, we are more and more freed up to live life with abandon – free to fail, free to try, free not to play it safe, free to recklessly trust and engage the journey of life under the watchful gaze of the LORD. With such a dear security, we are more and more liberated from lives under a death-grip of control, self-protection, workaholic self-promotion, and joyless drive to produce success for ourselves by ourselves.
Since God is keeping watch and providing help and protection, we do not have to be paralyzed by the real fears, threats, and friction that will always be present and never too far away from our ordinary lives. If God’s eyes are upon you with love, you are free to get on the balance beam of life and enjoy it (not merely endure and survive it).
However, the even better news from Psalm 121 is that if God’s eyes of love are upon you, and if his strong hands of love are upon you for protection and provision, you are also free to extend that same quality of care, attention, and love to those around you. It is true that those who are kept by the gracious love of God will always find themselves keeping others.
Those who are kept end up keeping! If you are assured that you are loved, kept, accepted, cherished, provided for, and noticed, then you are free to love, keep, accept, cherish, provide for, and notice others. Since God is keeping watch and looking with love, we can let go of our self-focused navel gazing and focus upon the needs and feelings of those around us.
Are you free to enjoy the quality of care and love in the watchful gaze of the LORD? Are you free to extend that same care and love to others around you? By God’s grace and with his limitless help, those who are kept keep!