“Preserve me, O God; for in thee do I put my trust.” Psalms 16:1

I found this verse to be thought provoking as I was reading in Psalms. In the past when I’ve been able to have a garden, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time preserving vegetables, putting them up in a way that would keep them for future use. Thinking upon this verse and it’s reference to “preserve me”, I felt I needed to understand the meaning of the word a little more clearly so I looked it up in Webster’s dictionary.

Definition of preserve

1: to keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction :

2: to keep alive, intact, or free from decay:

3a: to keep or save from decomposition 3b: to can, pickle, or similarly prepare for future use

4. to keep up and reserve for personal or special use

Within each of these definitions I found my own personal need of being preserved.

In Psalm 32:7 “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.” 1: to keep safe from injury, harm, or destruction, to preserve.

In Psalm 121:7-8 “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” 2: to keep alive, intact, or free from decay, to preserve.

In Isaiah 49:8 “Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;” 3a: to keep or save from decomposition 3b: or similarly prepare for future use, to preserve.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”4. to keep up and reserve for personal or special use, to preserve.

God is in control, He is preserving His people steadfast unto the day which He has appointed. Nothing that comes our way can destroy us as long as our trust is in Him and we seek to follow in His truth.

Psalm 40:11 “Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord : let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.”

Nehemiah 9:6 “Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.”

Psalm 64:1 “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.”

He will preserve me !!! He will keep me safe from injury, harm, or destruction. He will keep me alive, intact, and free from decay. He will prepare me for future use. He will keep up and reserve me for His personal or special use.

2 Timothy 4:18 “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”