Dr Charles Stanley - God is Our Keeper - Part 1

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
God is the only one who can say continuously, morning, noon,
and night, circumstance, up the circumstance, heartache, troubled, trial, tribulation,
he says, I am reliably there. I will never leave you,
no forsake you, no matter what. He says in the
daytime when the sun is shining, in the evening, when
it's night. How did he prove this? For example, of

(00:24):
the nation of Israel. He got him across the Red Sea.
He got him out in the desert on their way
to Sinai. And in the years they spent in the desert,
what did he do? He said, I'm going to keep you.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Psalm one hundred, verse five says for the Lord is good,
his mercy is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Welcome to in touch the teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley.
Today's program focuses on God's character as the foundation for
our assurance. The Lord sustains us, guides us, and comforts us.

(00:59):
Simply put, God, He's our keeper.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
One hundred and twenty first Psalm. And I want us
to see how practical this is. Because God has something
very specific and practical to say, every single one of us,
No matter who we are. He begins by saying, I
will lift up my eyes to the mountains or to
the hills. From whence shall my help come? That's a question. Well,
my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

(01:25):
He will not allow your foot to slip. 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 will not smite you by day, nor the moon
by night. The Lord will protect you from all evil.

(01:48):
He will keep your soul. The Lord will guard your
going out and your coming in from this time forth
and forever. Now more than likely the psalmist, when he
begins here by saying I will lift up my eyes
of the mountains, he could have been thinking one of
a number of things, but probably one of the things
that he was thinking about was this that in the
hill country, in the mountains, usually the robbers and the

(02:10):
vagabonds and the thieves they would hang out there and
taking advantage of innocent travelers who were going their way.
So it may be that he was looking at these
mountains with a bit of anxiety and wondering what was there.
And so when the Psalmi says, I'm looking to the hills,
where's my help coming from? I'm looking at those challenges

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out there in life? Where's my help coming from? When
I face one of these challenges, when I face danger,
or face heartache, of face trouble, my help comes from
none other than Jehovah, God, the eternal One, who is
the creative the heavens and the earth. And if he
created the heavens and the earth, he can certainly take
care of what is the mountains waiting for me. He
can certainly take care of whatever difficult and hardship lies

(02:53):
in my future. He can certainly take care of all
the uncertainness of my life, because He is the one
who says he established his throne in the heavens, and
his sovereignty rules over all. He is the God to
whom you and I look. Now. Everything he says from
that point on rest upon the foundation that he knows
whose God is. With that in mind, what I want

(03:15):
us to do is to look at the rest of
his psalm and apply to our life in a very
practical way, because he certainly sought in a very practical
way and the terminology he uses, and the phrases he
uses here. Upon first reading, you think, well, what in
the world is that about what he's doing. He is
simply saying, these are all the ways that God keeps me.
Now look if you will, and I want you to

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notice something. If you'll notice, first of all, in verse three,
he says, he will not allow your foot to slip.
He who keeps you will not slumber. Then he says
again in verse four, he who keeps Israel will neither
slumber nor sleep. He says in verse five, the Lord
is your keeper. The Lord is your shame. Verse seventy
says the Lord will protect you from all evil. He

(03:58):
will keep your soul. So four times we read the
word keep here. But I want you to notice something else.
There are two other words here that are the same
Hebrew words as the word keep in these four verses
these four times, and I want you to notice what
they are. Verse seven, the Lord will protect you from
all evil, protect keep you, same Hebrew word keep you.

(04:18):
Then he says, the Lord will guard you're going out,
you're coming in, same Hebrew word keep your going out,
and you're coming in. So six times it is found
there and so when we talk about God keeping us,
we're talking about God who is caring for us, protecting us,
providing for us, watching over us, whose eye is intently
observing us. And so the rest of this passage tells

(04:41):
us how God keeps you and me as his children.
So look at it if you will. So, first of all,
he says, beginning in this third verse, he says, he
will not allow you a foot to slip. What does
that have to do with keeping me? Here's what it
has to do with keeping me. Here's what it says.
It's a way of saying that God is very, very

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attentive to you and me. That is, if God is observing,
if he is watching where I step, if he's watching
my sense of direction, if he's watching the path that
I'm on, if he is observing and he is attentive
to my walk, God is certainly expressing his caring about
how you and I walk, where we walk, where we

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should not walk, and where we ought to walk. That
is the truth is that everybody's feet should carry them
to a place of worship on the Lord's Day. But
how many people's feet do not care them there? They
have no earthly idea and absolutely no interest in the
things of God. But he says he keeps our foot
from slipping. Now, does that mean that he keeps us

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from sinning? Well, certainly there's something here about that later on,
but that's not what he's referring to. He's not saying
that he will keep you and me from sinning necessarily,
but he keeps our foot from slipping. Now what is
he referring to? Simply this David, more than likely, who
spend a lot of his times in the mountains and
in treacherous areas, oftentimes found himself in those places that
there are dangers. God was keeping him. What is he

(06:09):
saying to you and me? You and I also walk
through difficult times, in situations and circumstances that we can't control,
oftentimes that are not clear to us. Sometimes it's a
little dark in our pathway. Sometimes we're walking on the
precipices of life and decisions that we make and were
not even sure ourselves if we're going to be able
to do it. So what does he say? He says,

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when you and I are walking in the will of God,
God is going to keep our foot from slipping. If
I choose to deliberately willfully disobey God. Then what happens
then God's keeping power. If I choose to step off
the cliff, God isn't necessarily going to keep me from
doing so. When he says he keeps our foot from slipping,

(06:51):
that's God's way of saying, I'm going to keep you.
That is, I'm going to keep you on the path.
There may be potholes out there, they may be trenches
out there, there may be very very narrow ways that
you're gonna have to walk. He says, I'm going to
keep you. I love you, I'm caring for you. I'm
your keeper. I am attentive to where you have to walk.
I'm attentive to what you have to walk through. I'm

(07:13):
attentive to those things when oftentimes you cannot see your
way clear. It's as if you're walking in the fog.
As if you're walking in the dark and you can't
you don't know how or what to do. He says,
I am your keeper, and I'm going to keep your
feet from slipping. Now all of us know this passage
of the twenty third Psalm that says, Yay, though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I

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will fear no evil. What is the reason we fear
no evil? I will fear no evil, for what thou
art with me? Thy rod and thy staff, they come
from me. It is his presence. It is God's keeping power.
In those difficult, trying times when we have to walk
through the valleys of life, he says, he'll keep your

(07:57):
feet from slipping. That is what he says saying. Is
I am there to sustain you, to establish you, to
protect you, to watch over you in those times when
you cannot see your way clear and you're having to
walk in a place or torn in a direction that
you've never had to walk before in your life. Second thing,
I want you to notice here he not only is attended,

(08:18):
but he is very alert. This is what he means.
Look at this if you will. He says, he will
not allow you a foot to slip. He who keeps
you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel neither
will slumber nor sleep. Now what is he simply saying?
Simply this that God is alert to every single aspect
of our life. Thank God, Listen, you and I get tired,

(08:41):
We get weary. We get worn. At a certain time
every night we ready to go to bed. It's time
to go to sleep. We just sort of worn out.
We've had a full day. The interesting thing about God
is never sleeps. He doesn't even have to take a
cat nap. Now is God doesn't get tired and weary
and worn out and take a nap. And if you'll
think about that, God's eye is listen. His eye is

(09:01):
eternally upon us. He is alert to every single aspect
of our life. He sees things coming in your life
before you and I see them. He knows what's in
the future and we do not. He is alert to
every single move we have. Because what he says, he
will never leave us, nor for sakens. He will never
leave us, nor for sakeus. Then he must be alert
to every single aspect of our life. Somebody says, but

(09:23):
wait a minute, now, what about in Genesis chapter two
when the Bible says that when God finished the creation
he rested. Well, the Bible says he rested when he
finished the creation, which simply means he completed it and
it was over. But nowhere does the Bible say that
God naps, that God takes a break, that God sleeps.
Thank God, he doesn't that once in a while when
you're not praying and asking for something that doesn't come

(09:44):
to pass when we want it to, we thank God,
where are you Well, He's certainly not asleep. He's certainly
listening to what we say. God is at no time,
at no point in your life and mind, At no
point in time is God unconscious oblivious to what going
on in your life and mind. He knows every single
thing that is going on. He is Jehovah, God who

(10:06):
rules and reigns over this universe and every single one
of our lives. You and I will never know what
he's protected us from in life until we get on
the other side. He is attentive, and he is alert
to every need, everything that's happening in our life. Why
the Bible says he is indeed our keeper, and we say,
my God shall supply all of my needs. The corners
riches in glory in Christ Jesus. According to what Paul's

(10:29):
and Philippians Chapter four, verse nineteen, God listens. He can
only do that if he is alert to my needs,
attentive to my needs. But notice a third thing he
says in a very practical way about God being our keeper.
He says he will not allow you a foot to slip.
He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who
keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is

(10:51):
your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. Now,
what does he mean of that? Simply this, He's our protector.
And so when he says that he our shade on
our right side, he's simply saying this, God Jehovah, God
infinite in wisdom, absolute in power, on waiving, his faithfulness,
is standing by our side. Remember what Jesus said. He said,

(11:12):
I'm not going to leave you disciples, Sir, I'm not
gonna leave you comfortless. I'm gonna leave you us like orphans.
He says, I'm gonna send the Holy Spirit. He'll be
in you, with you upon you. When he called him
the comforter. The word in the Greek is paraclitos, which
means the one who walks by mysid, the one who
stands by massides. When he says he is your keeper,
he's your shade on your right hand. What is he

(11:34):
saying that? God the Father? Listen, God the Father and
the person of the Holy Spirit is always by our side,
living on the inside of us. Yes, always by our
side as our protector, doing what always equipping us and
making us ready for any satanic attack that comes our way.
When we are not aware of our circumstances, he is
always aware, and he stands by us side to protect

(11:58):
us in every single circuit stance of life. Does that
mean that he will keep us from sinning? Not necessarily
if we choose the sin against him. No, he will not.
But he certainly is there to warn us and to
give us the privilege of avoiding it if at all possible.
Now I think about to Psalm sixteen, look at it.
Begin if you in verse seven, I will bless the

(12:19):
Lord who has counseled me. Indeed, my mind instructs me
in the night listen. When you and I go to
sleep at night, wake up in the night. Listen. One
of the wisest things you can do when you go
to sleep at night is simply whisper this prayer. Lord,
if you have something to say to me, awaken me
to tell me. Lord, if you have something to say
to me, let me awaken to hear your voice. Listen.

(12:43):
God oftentimes chooses those quiet times when there is no disturbance,
no other voice, not even in the light in the
darkness of the night. Oftentimes God speaks to our heart
because there he has our absolute perfect listen, undisturbed attention.
So the Psalmist says, he says, speak to me, that is,

(13:05):
speak to my heart. I want to be available to
hear you instruct me in the night. Then he says
in verse eight, I've set the Lord continually before me,
not just during the day, continually before me could because
he is at my right hand. I'll not be shaken.
I've set the Lord continually before me, which is his
way of saying, I want to live moment by moment
aware of his presence. That wherever I am, there he

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is whatever's going on there, he is whatever I'm going through. There,
he is whatever I face. There is whatever's good, there
is whatever's bad, there's whatever evil there is. God is
always there. He is there, not one for as our provider,
but he's there as our protector. He says, he is
my shade on my right hand. And so he says,

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I've set him before me. I've set him as at
my right side to protect me. And therefore he says,
I will not be shaken. And therefore the Psalmist as
he thought of about himself and thought about how God
worked in his life, he could see himself in the
same fashion. Now, notice, if you will, if you'll think
about your life for a moment, all of us have

(14:12):
strong points. All of us have strengths in our life.
We all have strengths, but we also all have weaknesses.
And usually the thing that we guard about we guard
the most, are those areas of weakness in our life.
If I should say to you, do you have any
area of weakness in your life? If you were to
say no, then I would say to you you have
a big weakness, because every single one of us have

(14:34):
those points in which Satan listen, he can get us
there quicker than any other place. But you said, well,
then what about the strengths. Well, the strengths also can
become our greatest weakness if we're not careful, Because you
see where you are the strongest is what you do
you naturally let down your guard. Well, you know, I
could never be tempted with drugs, I could never be

(14:55):
tempted with alcohol. No is just write those two off
for certain Maybe a lot of other things you think
you couldn't be tempted with. But the truth is listen. God,
and God alone can protect us in every single circumstance
of life. That's why we all need him listening, attentively
watching over us, alert to every circumstance of our life.

(15:17):
We need him continuously. Then I'll want you to notice
something else, he says here, and we ask ourselves on
what in the world's he implying here? Then he says,
the Lord is your keeper verse five. The Lord is
your shade on your right hand. The sun will not
smite you by day, nor the moon by night. Well, now,
what's he referring to here? He's simply saying to us

(15:38):
this that God's keeping power is continuous. God's going to
keep us in the daytime. God's going to keep us
in the night. He's going to keep us through the night.
That is no time in which God, who is our keeper,
is not busy doing exactly what he promised, and that
is He's keeping us. Now, our friends would like to
help us at times times they can't. That family will

(16:00):
to help us at times times they cannot. Listen, there
are circumstances and the experiences in life in which you
and I face or will face that nobody under God's
heaven can help us in those moments. But God himself
and my friend. If you do not know Him as
your savior, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as you're saving,
you don't know God in a personal way. When you

(16:22):
hit those times that are like deserts in your life,
like hurricanes and tornadoes meeting together in your life, then
who do you have? Friends can only do so much?
And is it not true that oftentimes when the bottom
drops out and all hell breaks loose in your life,
those people you thought were your friends they're gone to
Then what do you have? God is the only one

(16:42):
who can say continuously morning, noon and night. Circumstance after circumstance, heartache, troubled, trial, tribulation,
he says, I am reliably there. I will never leave you,
no forsake you, no matter what. God is our keeper.
He never comes up short, He never fails. He knows
exactly what our needs are, morning, noon and night. He

(17:04):
knows what they are every single moment of our day.
Almighty God, Jehovah, God, infinite wisdom, knows all about us,
absolute in power, has all the power necessary to meet
every single need we have. Unwaving in his faithfulness, he
can always be trusted, always to be dependent upon. He
is always there, no matter what, working in your life

(17:28):
and my life to do what doing what he promised
to do. He's keeping us, protecting us, guiding us, watching
over us, providing our every single lea. That's the kind
of God he is. He is a keeper, he is
a caretaker. He loves us, He wants the best for us.
God has planned his infinite best for every single one

(17:49):
of us. If we're not experiencing God's best, it's not
God's fault. He doesn't say, now, how little can I
do in that person's life. I'm just going to make
it so they'll always only be able just to say,
scrape by and skip by. That's not the God of
the Bible. If there's any skipping and scraping going on,
if God allows it, there is a purpose for it.

(18:09):
But more than likely God has something far better. But
if I don't recognize his presence, if I don't see
him as my keeper, listen, if I'm relying upon my
own strength and my own enginuity, and my own abilities
and my own talents, I'm relying upon somebody else to
do this for me, and somebody else to do that
for me, I'm gonna miss God's best. And there will
be people who will live their lives always looking to

(18:31):
somebody else to do something for them, instead of giving
their best, and instead of taking the trials and taking
the test, and being willing to step out on the
unknown and being willing to trust God when we don't
know where to go and what to do next. It's
those people. Listen, when we trust him, God honors our faith,
and what will he do. He will keep you through
the storm, He will keep you through the deep waters.

(18:52):
He will keep you no matter what. He is committed
to that and he says, listen, I am your keeper.
He says, I will protect you well. That he says
wether the sun is shining on you in the daytime,
whether it's in the evening, no matter what, he says,
I'm going to keep you through those times.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Thanks for joining us today for in touch the teaching
ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. The Holy Spirit lives within
each believer, So once you receive Jesus Christ as your savior,
you can take hold of God's promise to direct your
path and keep you through every situation. Trust in him.
Today we'll hear more about the keeping power of God tomorrow.

(19:34):
And to listen to these encouraging truths again, click on
Today on Radio at in touch dot org. While you're there,
you can study more about the character of God. Open
our online store page. If you'd like to order a
copy of doctor Stanley's complete message, God is Our Keeper again.
That's in touch dot org or call one eight hundred

(19:58):
in Touch. You can write to us at in Touch
Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia, three zero
three five seven. It's not unusual to feel helpless, but
a Christian is never hopeless because the source of help
is just a prayer away. Today's moment with Charles Stanley

(20:19):
is coming up.

Speaker 3 (20:21):
You know, there are a lot of places you can
go to explore and taking the sites on your own
and have a really great time doing it. But if
you go with the right guidebook, you can walk away
with so much more insight. The Field Guide to God's
Presence is like that. It's a tool you can use
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(20:42):
resource you'll continue to use for years to come. Or
to your Field Guide today go to InTouch dot org
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Speaker 4 (20:51):
In our spiritual journey, we often have questions, how do
I know God's will for my life? Does God hear
my prayers? Why do bad things happen? Are found in
the Word of God, but how do we know where
to start? The free in Touch devotional can help point
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(21:12):
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Speaker 2 (21:25):
You're listening to in Touch. The Christian who focuses on
God during difficult situations finds genuine encouragement. Here's a moment
with Charles Stanley.

Speaker 1 (21:39):
We feel hopeless sometimes and helpless and harassed by circumstances
and situations that we would like to push out of
our life. But sometimes because someone else executes them. It
isn't something you and I can always push away. Sometimes
it's because God has allowed us to be in a
situation where we find ourselves in a strait and we'd

(21:59):
like to break out, and we'd like to push it away,
but somehow God won't let us push it away. What
is our response? Are we to give up, blame God,
blame someone else? Are we to mature in that situation?
Or to fight back at our circumstances? Are we to
try to remove the circumstances? Or to ask God, Lord,
what are you saying to me in these circumstances? Listen,

(22:22):
this is always the proper question. Whatever your circumstance, and
whatever your situation, the proper question is God, what are
you saying to me? Because I want to tell you,
my friend, He never loses an opportunity to teach us something,
to stretch us a little bit further, to grow us
up a little bit more, to mature us. He never
overlooks a single situation of testing and trial, tribulation and

(22:47):
temptation to teach us something that he knows we need
to know, which will shape us and conform us into
His likeness. So what is your response when you get
to those situations? Do you blame God? Do you blame
the devil? Do you blames or do you blame yourself?
It may be that God is placed us there. It
may be something that we have done to ourselves. It

(23:08):
may be something that we can look and say that
person is responsible. But regardless of why it's there, why
you're where you are, The question is, Lord, what are
you attempting to teach me? And if I'm able to
ask that question, I will not see my present circumstances
as difficult as they are. I will not look upon
the circumstance, but I'll be focused upon God. I will

(23:30):
not see it as an impossible situation, but an opportunity
for God to work out and to work in something
in my life that He feels is necessary in order
to accomplish his perfect will.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
God works in a believer's life in many different ways.
Learn more at in touch dot org. And if you
have a story about how God's grace has touched you
through this program, we'd love to hear it tomorrow on
in Touch. You've probably heard questions like will God keep
us from sinning? How about from evil? We'll hear answers

(24:03):
to these questions in part two of God Is Our Keeper.
I hope you'll join us Thursday for in Touch, the
teaching ministry of doctor Charles Stanley. This program is a
presentation of in Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and remains on
this station through the grace of God and your faithful

(24:26):
prayers and gifts