INTRODUCTION:
A. Psalm 121:1-8
B. Four words: LIFT – HELP – MADE – KEEP == LORD
C. Keep: “to cause a state or condition to remain” (Gen. 2:15; 2 Sam. 15:16)
D. The Lord is our keeper!
1. Watchful care of God over His people
2. Shepherd (Gen. 30:31; 31:40)
3. The Lord is our shepherd (Ps. 100:3; 23:1-3).
I. INSECURITY – THE KEEPER WILL NOT LET YOUR FOOT BE MOVED (3).
A. Treacherous footing
B. Paradox: “A man cannot go without moving his feet; and a man cannot stand whose feet are moved” (Spurgeon).
C. Answer: Security as we travel (Ps. 17:5; 40:1-2; Jude 24-25)
II. ISOLATION – THE KEEPER WILL NEITHER SLUMBER NOR SLEEP (4).
A. A sleeping god (1 Kgs. 18:27, 38; 2 Chr. 16:9; Prov. 15:13)
B. Assurance that God is on the job (Ps. 34:7)
C. We are not alone (Mt. 28:20; Hb. 13:5-6; Rm. 8:35-39).
III. ANXIETY – THE KEEPER WILL PROTECT YOU FROM ALL EVIL (7).
A. “Keep you from all evil” – poetically described:
1. “The Lord is your shade” (vs. 5; Jon. 4:6; Acts 17:27; Ps. 91:1).
2. “The Lord is your shade on your right hand” (vs. 5: Hb. 1:3; Ps. 16:8; 109:31; Gen. 48:17-18).
3. Day and night protection: sun by day; moon by night
B. “Keep you from all evil” – comprehensively described:
1. “He will keep your life [soul]” (vs. 7; Mt. 22:37).
2. “He will keep your going out and your coming in” (vs. 8; Num. 6:24-26; Dt. 28:6).
3. “From this time forth and forevermore” (vs. 8; Ph. 4:6-7).
C. We must place ourselves under His protection.
1. 2 Cor. 5:7; 1 Pet. 5:7; Prov. 3:5-7
2. “None are so safe as those whom God keeps, none so much in danger as the self-secure” (Spurgeon).