1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
I have recently started studying the Psalms of Ascent (120-134) which are the songs the travelers sang during the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and also as worship in the temple once they had arrived. The other night I was reading Psalm 121 and the line "The Lord is your keeper" stuck out to me. I realized I didn't really understand what the work keeper meant. I read through a couple different translations and found that the words protect or help are also used. I was urged to pursue further and loved what I found in Strong's Concordance. The Hebrew word for keeper that is used in Psalm 121 is shamar. As I looked up what shamar translates to, I also looked up the definition of the word in the English dictionary. The depth of the word keeper and the translation of the "Lord is your keeper" is astounding. This is a statement that truly characterizes the Lord and his affection for us.
Shamar translates as:
- properly to hedge about as with thorns (guard)
- generally to protect
- to attend to (to look after, to be present with)
- beware (to take care of)
- be circumspect (careful to consider all circumstance and possible consequences)
- take heed (to pay attention)
- keep (to be faithful to, to watch over and defend)
- mark (to take notice of, designate, distinguish)
- look narrowly
- observe (to come to realize or know especially through consideration of noted facts)
- preserve (to keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction)
- regard (a feeling of respect and affection, a protective interest)
- reserve (to set aside or apart)
- save (to rescue or deliver from harm)
- sure (safe from danger or harm)
- wait for (to stay in a place of expectation)
- watch/watchman (to be awake during the night, to guard, to be attentive)
My prayer for you and for me is that we understand and believe that the Lord is our keeper. And that in being our keeper He fulfills every piece of every part of the definition of shamar.
