“The Lord bless you and keep you.” Numbers 6:24
Have you ever felt like the pieces of your life were falling apart? If so, you aren’t alone. There is a story of a man named Job who lost everyone and everyone. His whole world, as He knew it was gone, but he never left God’s observation, attention, and care. Like a gardener tends to his garden, a shepherd tends to his sheep, and a nursing mother tends to her infant, so God will tend to us who look to Him for help.
What would happen to the garden, if it wasn’t kept up?
What would happen to the sheep, if they weren’t given tending?
What would happen to a nursing infant, without observation and care?
The Hebrew word for “keep” in Numbers 6:24 is samar (8104), and it means “to keep, to have charge over, to watch out for, to observe, to guard, to care.”
God is our keeper, continually watching for what we might need, and then tending to our needs. When I was a young mother for the first time, I was very attentive to when my baby would even make a sigh, signaling distress and my attention. I was attentive, ready to act on her behalf. Not only was I the one she leaned on for her survival, but I also loved her with a God-given motherly love to care for the one that depended on me.
Job was dependent on God. His safety was in God, but he found himself in extreme pain from the boils that covered his body. His care was in God, but he found himself in need of attention. The love he knew from another person was now absent and he was left reeling from loss and loneliness. When he should have been able to find comfort from his friends, instead he was surrounded by judgment, blamed for his condition, reminded of his imperfections.
Some of you may have gone through suffering or you are suffering right now. From some, maybe instead of care, comfort, and protection, you were met with an abuser that took advantage of your pain, your need, your brokenness. I want to remind you the one who restored and increased Job was God. The one who tried to destroy Job was Satan. The ones who condemned him were later condemned by God.
Application: 2 Timothy 1:12 says, “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” God is the reason you are still here, still standing. Have faith that the God who holds the stars in their place is holding you. Even if the heavens and earth are shaken, you will not be moved. He is our keeper!