The Keepers

I read this in The Baptist Messenger today. We have so many wonderful people at NHBC who serve by letting God love up on kids through them. So blessed by them!

The keeper is a term I use in my teaching. It comes from 1 Sam. 17:20, “So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper.” But the keeper’s name is never mentioned in the Bible. Keepers stay in the background doing what the world calls mundane. David went on to challenge Goliath, become king and get both princess and palace. The keeper stayed out in the field, and all he got was the sheep and whatever they produced. But David would have had no victory if the keeper hadn’t kept, and he wouldn’t have become king if the keeper hadn’t kept.

David’s experience is no different from what happens today. Those middle school students wouldn’t have a Sunday School teacher if the childcare workers hadn’t kept. And those people who came to Christ this morning? They might not have found salvation if the church hadn’t provided some keepers who kept their children. If it weren’t for the keepers, the world would come to a standstill.

When God decided to send His birth announcement, He didn’t send it to the kings or the palaces of this world. Instead, He sent it to “shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” (Luke 2:8b). God reveals Himself to the keepers first.

This week, let the keepers in your life know how much you appreciate them. And especially the one whose job it is to find that certain smell.