“He is Your Keeper”

Meditation on Psalm 121 & Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

March 16, 2014

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      “What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness. For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.” (Romans 4:1-5, 13-17).

***

    Her name was Gladys- Glady for short. She lived with her sister, “Rippy,” in a Spanish-style house across the highway from my grandmother’s cottage in Daytona Beach, Fla. They were two elderly widows who had lived together since their husbands had passed away. I don’t remember Rippy’s real name. She had been Rippy or “Rips”—as her sister called her—ever since someone said her laughter “rippled” when she was a little girl.

    I got to know Glady the summer I turned 19 and drove from Maryland to Daytona Beach to visit my grandparents. I was in an in-between time. I had resigned from an office job I had held for 18 months so that I could go to college full time and finish my degree. I wanted to be a teacher of young children.

     My grandmother was also in an in-between time. My parents had moved her and my grandfather that spring to a new home in a quiet, residential area, so Grandma was no longer living in the little house in which she had lived since she got married in the 1920s. Grandma’s life, along with the neighborhood, had changed. Mom, an only child, had moved out and moved north years before, and my grandfather, in his upper 90s, was not able to help with maintenance or chores anymore. The new house was nice, but it was a hard move. Grandma missed her home of many years with its memories and the people who were not just neighbors; they were her friends. 

     Grandma was setting out on an adventure into the unknown, trusting God to lead her to the life He had planned for her, not so differently than Abram, who trusted God when he was 75 and the Lord told him to leave everything that was familiar and go to the place the Lord wanted him to go.

     While I visited Grandma that summer, we drove to Glady and Rippy’s house to play cards one afternoon and enjoy Glady’s homemade lemon cake. They taught me how to play Spite and Malice, and told stories about the good ole days, when Glady and Rippy and their husbands, believe it or not, worked in Vaudeville. They traveled by car, train, and ship to put on shows of song, dance, and comic routines. As you can imagine, they were lots of fun to be around. They weren’t prim and proper—not like some of Grandma’s other friends. Glady and Rippy would occasionally burst into songs from the 20s, 30s and 40s, songs which Grandma would politely decline to join in singing. She was saving her voice to sing hymns for the Lord in church, she said.  But before we took a break from cards to eat Glady’s cake, Glady prayed a simple prayer that touched my heart. I remember how she gave thanks to God for the blessing of friendship. Friends had helped her through the difficult years, she told us, when her husband had cancer, and through the lonely years that followed his death—when her life no longer meant caring for someone else and she wasn’t sure what the future would bring—or that God had any plans for her at all.

   Grandma was quiet as Glady spoke; Grandma, too, was struggling to care for my grandfather, more than 20 years her senior.  We didn’t know it then, but he had less than a year to live. After his death, Grandma would be nurtured not as much by her family—who still lived up north—but her neighbors and friends who looked in on her every day, had coffee with her in the morning and stopped in to watch Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune after supper. They brought her meals and had her over to their house for dinner. They took her shopping or offered to go shopping for her. They made sure she got to church and choir practice. And they played cards and told stories.

    Grandma’s friends and neighbors, I realize now, were Christ’s hands and feet. God promises to care for us, His children, just as the Lord cared for Abram when he was in a strange land and his life was different than he ever knew.

     The way that God cares for us and heals us is through loving relationships. God’s Spirit works in and through the people around us. And God’s Spirit works in and through us to help other people.

***

    The Apostle Paul in Romans teaches that Abram is a model of righteousness because of his unquestioning faith. Abram trusted God completely, a trust that led him to be obedient even when God called Him to embark on a long journey so that God could make him the father of many nations and so that all the families of the world would be blessed.

      Psalm 121 reminds us that for those who place their trust in God, the Lord is their keeper. His faithful rely on the grace and mercy of God and don’t place their trust in any of their own works or abilities.

     I wish I had always known that I didn’t have to worry about my life, that I could trust in the Lord, who promises to keep our going out and our coming in from this time and forever more.

     I wish I had known that I could trust in the Lord that summer when I drove to Florida to see my grandparents, when I was worried about the future. When I was worried that I might make a mistake, do the wrong thing, and that I would never figure out what I should be when I grew up.

    But that summer I became friends with Glady, a woman of extraordinary grace and wisdom, sensitivity and humor.  She and I went to the movies, the mall, and the beach. She told me stories and I shared with her the things that made me anxious. Just telling my worries to a friend made me feel better.

      Glady was one of the people who showed my grandmother love in the days and months leading up to my grandfather’s death—and in the years that immediately followed it. The Lord used her to be His hands and feet. Through Glady and other people, the Lord was Grandma’s keeper.

***

   The night before I left Florida to begin my journey home, Glady opened her china closet and handed me a beautiful, flowered pitcher. I hesitated to take it, knowing that it was part of a set—that it belonged with the others.

   She insisted. It was something she loved and would notice missing. It was something that would lead me to always remember the blessing of friendship.

    That was the last time I ever saw Glady. And I no longer have the pitcher with me; I gave it to my mom before one of my moves about 10 years ago. But my faith assures me that God used Glady to be a blessing not just to my grandmother and her sister, Rippy, but to me!

    Friends, the Lord knows your situation. He knows the past. He holds the future. You can trust in Him. Don’t be afraid that you will make a mistake. God can use everything for His good purposes. And He will. In His time.

    Don’t forget the people who have been a blessing in your life!

    In your gratitude, pass the blessing on! Seek to be Christ’s hands and feet! Be a friend to someone in need.

    God’s Word assures us that He will protect us from harm. He will not allow our foot to be moved from the right path.

    You who are His faithful—You who rely on the grace and mercy of God and don’t place your trust in any of your own works or abilities: The Lord is your keeper.

     The Lord is your shade at 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 and forever more.

Let us pray.

Holy One, thank you for keeping us always in your tender care. Thank you for your mercy and grace that led you to give up your only son for our sakes so that we might be forgiven of all our sins through faith on Him. Build up our faith and confidence, Lord. Use us for your good purposes. May we be your hands and feet to encourage and lift up someone who is mourning the loss of a loved one or someone who is lonely and worried what the future will bring. Draw us nearer to you and reassure us that you are our keeper, that you have a plan for salvation that includes every one of us! Make your loving presence known to us and to all your children of faith—from this time and forever more. In Christ we pray. Amen.