Keep the Word

{Daily Selah}

Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it (Luke 11:28).


The word "keep" is used in a variety of ways in the English language. For example, we keep promises, keep the faith, keep going, keep something in mind,  keep watch, keep our eye on the ball, keep some things away and keep other things close.


In Luke 11:28, Jesus said, "Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."


According to Vine's Expository Dictionary, the Greek word translated keep in that verse is phulasso. That word carries with it several meanings. Phulasso means...

- to guard - to watch- to keep watch - to keep by way of protection - 

- to keep or observe a law or precept - to keep oneself from something -

So what was Jesus saying when He said, "blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it"? To answer that, we need a little background into the spiritual terrain at the time.

In Jesus' day, the Pharisees had complete and total dominance over the spiritual lives of the people. Many of the Pharisees had a very distorted view of what it means to follow the Lord God of Israel. Their extreme form of legalism promoted dead religion, rather than true faith in the living God. In Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33 and again in Luke 3:7, Jesus called them a "generation of vipers." One has to wonder if this was a reference back to the Garden of Eden when the Word of God was twisted the first time through a serpent.

Jesus had even more to say of the religious abuses of the Pharisees...

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments... (Matthew 23:4-5).

The phylacteries (little boxes of scripture tied to their forehead and left arm) God instructed the men of Israel to wear during times of prayer were given as a reminder (Deuteronomy 6:8) and He later told them,

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes (Deuteronomy 11:18). 

All 3 members of the Trinity are actively concerned with the purity of the Word in our hearts and lives. The Father said, '"lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul."  The Son said, "blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.." The Holy Spirit's job is to "guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). 

We need to know God's Word if we are ever going to keep it. The blessed man of Psalm 1 strived to keep the Word and to keep himself from sin. What was his secret?

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night (Psalm 1:2). 

Moses said, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). 

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia reveals that the Hebrew word translated "law" in our English Bibles is the word "torah", which means direction or teaching. If that word had been appropriately translated, many Christians today would certainly have a very different view of the portion of the Bible we call the Old Testament. 

ALL of God's Word is relevant, important for believers today and in any age. Take a look at 2 Timothy 3:16:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...

No exceptions are made. God says ALL and means ALL. 

The Psalm 1 man filled his mind and his thoughts with all of the Word of God he had available to him at that time.  Paul said, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). It is not enough to simply know what the Word says, nor can we simply pick and choose the passages we like and throw out the ones we don't. 

David wrote, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psalm 119:11). David allowed the Word of God to change his thinking, change his heart, and change his life. That's what it means to keep the Word. 

Keep the Word. 




{Daily Selah} is a mini-devotional, a pause to ponder about the Lord and how He wants us to live.