You may not realize it, but you use a shield nearly every day.
We all do.
It’s called a windshield. 😊
I know a windshield may not carry the same panache of a warrior’s shield, but it serves a similar function.
A windshield protects us. It protects us by bearing the elements of the road. Sure, it really does shield us from wind and the occasional rain and maybe snow. But more significantly, it also shields us from the lethal smack of a rock kicked up from another vehicle.
A rock on the interstate, heading towards your car, becomes a violent missile. The windshield, however, takes the blow. Indeed, the humble windshield has saved more than a few lives.
And how do you activate these benefits? How do you learn to wield the windshield? Well, that’s just it; you don’t wield a windshield. You just get behind it.
In long-ago battles, the warrior’s shield served a similar purpose. Maybe it was gilded and ornamented, but its function was much the same as that of our windshields. It protected its carrier. It bore the brunt of the attack. Swords and arrows, spears and darts all struck the shield and not the warrior. And the warrior just…well..got behind it.
And so it is perhaps a surprising and wonderfully encouraging thought that the Lord says he will be for us our shield.
Genesis 15:1 – “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield…’”
Psalm 3:3 – “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me…”
Psalm 33:20 – “Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.”
Psalm 115:9-11 – “[9] O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [10] O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. [11] You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield.”
Proverbs 30:5 – “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”
That the Lord is our shield means He is our protector. It means that He will go before us. It means He keeps us in safety. And in the full blossom of its meaning in the Gospel, we know that our Lord would bear the punishment due us, that He would be struck and pierced so that we would not.
And what must we do now? We just get behind the Lord, like a warrior behind his shield. The New Testament calls this faith. It is not a matter of personal cleverness or skill or strength. No, we just get behind our Shield.
We call on His name. We run to Him in prayer. We rely on Him. And He’ll take it from there.
May the Lord be a shield about you today.
Amen.
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