Keeper: The Faithful Guardian

We live in the heart of a small-but-growing town in northern Colorado.

Although neat and tidy neighborhoods fill the landscape, we were unexpectedly blessed several years ago with a lovely, red brick home tucked amongst tall trees with a stunning view of the Rocky Mountains from our back porch. Our property lies alongside a sprawling parcel of land, on the far end of which sits a beautiful English-style estate barely visible from the road. Just yards from our home is a scattered assortment of faded orange outbuildings belonging to this estate, all of which look a little worse-for-wear. One of these structures is a small dwelling that, I believe, was once a groundskeeper’s house. Today it sits vacant and weather-worn. 

Our town is considered relatively safe, so this little guardhouse doesn’t seem necessary. However, it’s crossed my mind more than once that even with the DO NOT ENTER signage, any person who desired to cause harm would be able to pass through the fence opening, across the wide field, and up to the house without detection. 

I’ve also pondered many times how this imagery parallels the state of many women today. Even Christian women.

Too often we’ve abandoned our posts as gatekeepers of our hearts and minds—along with our homes and those who dwell in them—allowing destructive ideologies, influences, and idols to sneak past our God-given defenses of truth, conscience, and discernment. They’ve brought in smooth-sounding words catering to our fleshly tendencies, full of sweet-tasting poison that numbs our senses to the danger that’s upon us. And before we know it, we’re becoming vessels for these harmful ideas, too. Rather than taking seriously God’s call on our lives to faithfully guard ourselves and those in our care from that which would seek to kill, steal, and destroy, we’ve laid out the welcome mat and opened the door wide instead. All in the name of love, tolerance, and an open mind. 

I say, no more, dear sisters! Not on our watch. 

The Bible is full of calls for us as Christians to be keepers.
God’s people are to keep their souls (Deuteronomy 4:9-10), to keep the commandments of the Lord (Deuteronomy 26:17), to keep covenants made with God or others (Genesis 17:9), to keep our hearts (Proverbs 4:23), to keep our tongues (Psalm 34:13), to keep the way in which we walk (Psalm 119:9), to keep wisdom (Proverbs 3:21), to keep the instruction of our parents (Proverbs 6:20), to keep ourselves pure (1 Timothy 5:22), to keep ourselves in the love of God (Jude 1:21), to keep ourselves from idols (1 John 5:21). In Titus 2:5 women have the specific call to be keepers at home. (KJV).

Even though these have varying contexts and applications in regards to the “why” and “how” of keeping, every one of these usages of ‘keep’ have the same or similar root meanings that include words like guard, protect, attend carefully to, heed, watch. If we’re faithful to be ‘keepers’ in these ways, God promises us something: blessing. And not only blessing for us, but also for our children (which it explicitly states in many of the verses in the Old Testament passages). 

When we keep a careful watch over ourselves and what (or who) we’ve been entrusted, there is protection and spiritual flourishing that results. However, there’s spiritual devastation that awaits us if we don’t. Why? Because following our all-wise, all-perfect Creator’s pattern for life is what we were designed for, and turning from it takes us outside the bounds of truth into the twisted, harmful realm of lies.

The enemy of our souls would like nothing better than to get us to believe that this guardianship over ourselves and the spheres we’ve been entrusted is outdated and oppressive. He wants to distract us and stir up discontentment in our hearts with others’ curated social media feeds to the neglect of what is sitting in front of us just beyond the phone screen. He lures us with appealing self-centric messages from wildly popular “power” women who have just enough truth mixed in to keep us from seeing that these views will slowly lead us off the straight and narrow path that leads to life (Matthew 7:13-14). He wants us to buy into the quippy, 10-second “theology” videos that abound on the internet that cause us to question the soundness of Scripture. Because when we do, it leaves the gate wide open for the enemy to come in and wreak havoc on us, our families, and anyone else we might have influence over. 

Although there is great blessing that comes with taking up this call to be keepers it’s anything but easy. In many—if not all—cases it will mean swimming upstream against the cultural current around us. We’ll often be viewed as legalistic, self-righteous, or even hateful because we’re not embracing the trendy ideologies, activities, or movements of the day. But as women who fear the Lord, we need not fear the opinions or actions of others against us. We know that we don’t live for the applause of this world, but for the glory of our Savior, who knows the very best manner to live in every sphere and aspect of life. Why? Because He created it. He is the ultimate arbiter of truth. 

You know what the best thing is about all this? We do all this in light of the fact that God is our Keeper. One of the most poignant passages in this regard is Psalm 121. 

“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come? 
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand. 
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life. 
The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.” (ESV)

Isn’t that beautiful? Our keeping is enabled and protected by His perfect keeping. He commissions us to be faithful guardians because He has provided the grace to do it. As we consider the bleak landscape of deception and the havoc wreaked by sin and the devil all around us, it’s so easy to grow discouraged—we can’t possibly fulfill this calling in our own strength. But “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31) This should fill us with such hope.

Our keeping is enabled and protected by His perfect keeping.

Will you take up the call with me to be a keeper, seeking to faithfully guard ourselves and the spheres God has entrusted to us for His glory? Even though the world, the flesh, and the devil may seek to seize us, by God’s grace our lives and homes can be havens that treasure and proclaim the perfection of God’s design.

Your friend,