God is My Keeper; Psalms for Moms #3
We all need a reminder every once in a while of who God is. Romans 1:21 says, “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give Him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.” It’s easy to think this is written for different people at a different time, but I see myself it this description. I get out of the habit of reading the Bible and praying and it doesn’t take long for me to skew what I know about God. I give him human qualities and assume He’d respond like a human I stopped talking to. I make Him petty and rude and punishing. So, instead of turning to Him, I run farther. And because I’m not allowing him to be in my life, I become petty, rude, and punishing. Have you ever fallen into this pattern?
That’s why we need to remind ourselves about these truths about God so our minds don’t become "dark and confused". The first week of this series, I talked about how God is matchless. No one is like Him. His love, mercy, and justice can’t be measured.
But that wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t also personal. The second week I talked about the personal nature of this matchless God. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And He still loves us.
That brings us to the final week of Psalms for Moms. God is my keeper. Something almost all Moms have in common is we worry. Every mom I’ve ever met worries. Some more than others, but we worry. We worry about our kids, our house, our husbands. We worry about things that make sense to worry about and things we make up to worry about. The bible says worry is a sin. It feels unfair because it’s so a part of our nature, but it makes sense. Worry, like all sin, takes over our lives and hurts our relationship with God. The enemy loves worry. He knows he can have the upper hand in our lives as long as we’re a slave to worry.
The Psalm for today is a favorite of mine (and probably yours). If you spend time in choir as a youth, you probably sang one or more versions of this Psalm.
Psalm 121:1-8
1
I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3
He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5
The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7
The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
I can’t read this without smiling. Not only is it beautiful poetry, the words give life. We serve a God who won’t let us slip. He never sleeps and watches over us keeping us from harm. He watches our coming and going now and forevermore. The recipient of that kind of affection should have all the confidence in the world. She shouldn’t be a scared, worried, child. So why do I behave like one?
My husband likes to watch football. He almost aways chooses to spend quality time with me and the kids over watching a game, so when he’s tuned into one, I assume it’s an important game. He usually gets interrupted to do something and has to press pause. In that time, the game continues in his absence. When we sit back down to finish it, I often already know the outcome because I checked Facebook and accidentally learned what happened. When the outcome is bad, I have a hard time not saying, “Don’t get your hopes up on this one.” But when it’s is good, I enjoy watching the conclusion knowing we can’t lose because the game’s already been won.
I think you know where I’m going with this. I don’t have to worry because the news is good. God is on my side. He watches over me and never falls asleep. He is my helper. He won’t let me slip. He’s my shade and my right hand. I know the outcome and it’s good. With God at my side, I’ve already won.
Worry is a sin. And because of this truth, I have no need for it. And neither do you.
Blessings,
Shannon