Thursday, March 19, 2015

Another Great Verb in Scripture

This morning, I notice how often we're told that God "guards" our lives. In Psalm 97:10, we read that the Lord "guards the lives of his faithful ones." The verb guard is the Hebrew word shamar which means to watch closely, observe carefully, exercise great care over, or to heed well.

It's the same verb we read when Adam is told to "keep" care of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:15; it's also the verb to describe how the cherubim "guard the way to the tree of life" in Genesis 3:24. It's the verb Cain uses when he asks, "Am I my brother's keeper?"

475 times we read of this verb shamar, and each time, it means carefully protect, carefully hold, carefully guard, and carefully observe.

It's so comforting to think that I am carefully protected, held, guarded, and observed by God today. In Psalm 121:3, we're told that "the God who keeps you will not slumber."

At all times, we're carefully held.



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