The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

Psalm 121:7 ESV

The word “keep” is used five times in the eight verses of Psalm 121. It means to guard.

In a castle, there is a place called the keep. It’s that central tower. It’s the strongest part of the fortification. It’s where you’d go and hide if you weren’t fighting.

We don’t have to fight. We can take refuge in the strong tower. We have One who fights for us. Deut. 3:22 ‘You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.’

We find keeping in the New Testament too. Our verse from Psalm 121 said we were kept from evil. Here’s 1 John 5:18. ‘We know that no one who has been born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.’

Jesus keeps us, guards us, from our enemy.

We are kept. Here’s another famous keeping verse. Rev. 3:10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world…

When the Lord is keeping us, we are under guard, shut into that strong tower where nothing can harm us.

In that verse from Revelation, “keep” is used about us guarding His word. We keep His commandments. What does it mean to you that you’re to guard His word?