Guard: a state in which someone is carefully looking for possible danger, threats, problems, etc.
When was the last time you guarded something?
Protect, sure. Defend, more likely. But guard, I'm not sure.
To guard something means to be proactive as to how safe we keep something. Actions such as defend or protect usually mean that danger or harm to that which is important to us is imminent and in need of being kept secure. When something is guarded, it's done so at all times; whether or not danger is at hand.
When my son went to his first party as a teenager, my wife and I promised each other we wouldn't worry. He was with people we knew, the friend who came to pick him up was the son of a family friend, and we trusted our son completely. There wasn't anything to worry about.
My wife and I stayed up to watch TV and before you knew it we fell asleep on the couch. We heard our son come home and woke up, pretending to be asleep because we didn't want to be those parents who stayed up all night waiting for our kids to come home. It took all the will power I had not to snicker as he quietly sneaked by us to get to his bedroom, trying not to wake us up.
After he settled into his bedroom, my wife and I moved to our own bedroom, almost laughing as we too moved quietly so as to not wake him up. The next day she and I talked about what happened, and we both agreed that our actions were a way of being sure we would be available if our son needed us for anything. In a sense we were guarding him - keeping him in our thoughts and actions so that we would be at hand for whatever might happen.
In today's Psalm, the psalmist says that if God will teach him what is expected to live an acceptable life that he will do everything he can to keep those teachings safe. The writer states that he will guard every part of those teachings
. Just as my wife and I did with our son, the psalmist will keep God's teaching as a living part of his mind, heart, and soul, being available at all times to protect the words God has given.
What do you guard?
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