Shamar (Sha - mare)

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Welcome to Renew

Intro

I’m tired

I’m not sure about you but life is crazy busy and there seems like there is not a chance that it will ever change

From work, family, ministry and beyond it seems as though life is coming at me from every angel and is never letting up

Are you there?

Life can get really crazy

And there are a lot of times we are like weary travelers through life just looking for a place to rest our feet

is widely known as a travelers Psalm.

A psalm used for the pilgrimage to jerusalem

This journey could last days

There would be times that they were exhausted

This journey that we are walking called life is exhausting

I’ll be honest, I am exhausted

But In tells us to not grow weary in doing good

Galatians 6:9 ESV

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

It is interesting to me that this verse is here

How can you grow weary when you are doing what God is asking you to do?

How can exhaustion be a thing when you are doing so much good?

The reality is that the enemy hits us harder than anyone else

tells us that he is on a mission to take us out!

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

tells us that his only focus is to steal kill and destroy!

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Needless to say it is hard for us to find rest when we know that there is a force so great trying to come at us.

Much like the travellers who would pray we are on a journey and, it is tiring.

But we have to know...

Our help comes from God

The hills here could portray many things

It could be a place of attack on the path

It could be a place to hide or for protection

Or it could be a reference to Zion, God’s dwelling place on earth

I have always thought that the psalmist is thinking of finding refuge in the hills or even placing trust that the mountains will protect as a last line of defense

This would mean that he is looking at the hills for help but then realizes that God is where his help comes from.

In our lives we look for help to come from places other than God

We take our eyes off of him and being to focus on problems or how crazy life is or that we are being attacked

We have to keep focused on the fact that there is nothing that will protect us other than God

Psalm 4:8 ESV

In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

God is our protector and will never stop

God is always alert and vigilant in protecting

As a kid I would get a little freaked out at night

But I was good as long as I had EVERY STUFFED ANIMAL lining my bed

Stuffed animals don’t sleep so they will protect me!

That is a silly thing but it gave me comfort

The reality is that God is vigilant in protecting us

He never rests, he never sleeps he is always protecting us

He is our keeper

In verses 3 and 4 the Hebrew word is SHAMAR (Sha - mare)

A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible 8104. שָׁמַר

8104. שָׁמַר shâmar, shaw-mar´; a prim. root; prop. to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; gen. to protect, attend to, etc.:—beware, be circumspect, take heed (to self), keep (-er, self), mark, look narrowly, observe, preserve, regard, reserve, save (self), sure, (that lay) wait (for), watch (-man).

It

All of these meanings can apply to being able to find rest in a God who is our keeper

to guard and protect

to attend to - like when we are hurting

to preserve, reserve and save

to wait for and watch after

God has his eyes on us constantly

What an assurance to know that the one who created us knows who we are, what we are going through, what will come our way and is constantly watching out for us night and day!

His Protection is ALWAYS there for us.

Psalm 121:5–8 ESV

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.

You can lay down and night knowing that God is watching over you

You can wake up and know that God is there to keep you

You can leave your house knowing that God will never let the sun beat down on your head

Have you ever had an outside job?

I hauled hay in the summer

That was the worst job i have ever had

hot and sweaty

I went home everyday exhausted

life may be exhausting but God will never leave us

Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

We can live our life FEARLESS because we know that GOd’s protection is always there for us!

So why is this important?

The point of is not that we will not have problems, but that God will keep us safe as we go through them.

Psalms, Volume 3: (Psalms 107–150): An Expositional Commentary Kept from All Evil

The point of Psalm 121 is not that we will not have problems, but that God will keep us safe as we go through them.

Eugene Peterson writes about this very thing:

Psalms, Volume 3: (Psalms 107–150): An Expositional Commentary Kept from All Evil

The Christian life is not a quiet escape to a garden where we can walk and talk uninterruptedly with our Lord; nor a fantasy trip to a heavenly city where we can compare blue ribbons and gold medals with others who have made it to the winners’ circle.… The Christian life is going to God. In going to God Christians travel the same ground that everyone else walks on, breathe the same air, drink the same water, shop in the same stores, read the same newspapers, are citizens under the same governments, pay the same prices for groceries and gasoline, fear the same dangers, are subject to the same pressures, get the same distresses, are buried in the same ground.

The difference is that each step we walk, each breath we breathe, we know we are preserved by God, we know we are accompanied by God, we know we are ruled by God; and therefore no matter what doubts we endure or what accidents we experience, the Lord will preserve us from evil, he will keep our life.

Where do we go from here?

We have to find rest in the midst of our hard journey through life

We can find that knowing that our SHAMAR is always there for us

He is our keeper and he is our rest

I stole and adapted this from beliefnet.com but here are 5 tips to finding rest in God

Cast your cares on God

Release your burdens on him

Surrender your works to him

Know you are loved

Know that you are kept