Being Preserved

Psalm 121:1-8

I grew up in the country where we had a cow, chickens, hogs, and we had a big old garden.  I can remember my Mom canning peas, okra, even peaches and apples.  She would take them and put them in jars, preserving them for later on that year or even the next year.  I remember listening for the top to “pop”, and then you would know that it had sealed.  When we heard that sound we were sure that it was sealed and preserved.

In our passage today the psalmist turns our attention to “the hills”, looking up to God who is our Keeper; a God that doesn’t slumber, and doesn’t sleep.  Regardless of the time of the day or night, we can call Him.  We know by faith that He hears us, and we believe what the scripture says, He is always on watch for us; He never slumbers, nor does He sleep.

Verse 5: The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

As I was reading that I thought about the Exodus.  I thought about the children of Israel when they left Egypt and when they were going toward the Promised Land.  The scripture tells us that God was a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. 

So we know that God protected them - He was preserving them.  It says that the “sun shall not smite thee by day” - why? Because God was their shade.  “Nor the moon by night”? God was protecting them. He was preserving them.   There was a place they had to go; a purpose and a promise to be fulfilled.

A lot of times we may wonder about our purpose.  We ask: Why am I here? The scriptures teach us that God preserves each one of us for a purpose.  God preserves us for a special task, even for such a time as now. 

Verse 7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil…..

In the book of Samuel and also in the book of Chronicles we learn about David and how God preserved him.  The prophet Samuel came to his father Jesse’s house to anoint his son to be king.  He anointed David as king and to my understanding it was 15 years later before David became King.  The Lord had the man of God to anoint David, but there was a time of preparation and preservation before David became king.  He preserved David all that time for a special purpose, for a specific time.

Sometimes God can have a task for us and we might feel that God wants us to do this thing right now - we might say I think God wants me to do this or do that.  But God might be saying it is not time yet - I’ve got to preserve you through this trial.  I’ve got to prepare you and I’ve got to equip you. 

"Being preserved."  As I said earlier my Mom and others would take things from the garden and preserve them.  Your parents may have done some of the same things, or maybe your grandparents.  They would cook them and sterilize those jars and caps.  They would fill those jars and would tighten them down and then when they heard the pop of the top they knew they were sealed.  The preserves would last in the season to come.

We thank God that He seals us - that the Holy Spirit preserves us and keeps us.  I’m not saying that we won’t make mistakes.  I’m not saying that we are not going to error.  I’m not saying that we’re going to live above sin – we’re not going to.  But we thank God that we have a Keeper - that we have a Someone who preserves us from all evil.  We thank God for the Keeper of our souls.   
​
~J. T.