Perfect Protection

“10 God is my shield, saving those whose hearts are true and right. 11 God is a judge who is perfectly fair. He is angry with the wicked every day. 12 If a person does not repent, God will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow. 13 He will prepare his deadly weapons and ignite his flaming arrows.” (Psalm 7:10-13 NLT).

Two things you can always count on: (1) because we live in this fallen world system there will be struggles (some of which we may never fully understand) and (2) in spite of what it may appear like on the outside, God is still in control and He promises His protection (not to keep us from the troubles necessarily but to get us safely through them.)

I find it interesting that the Psalmist compares this saving power of God to a shield. Two things. First a shield is not an offensive weapon but a defensive weapon. God’s promise is protection not always victory as we may want to see it. (Ultimately there is victory, but sometimes there are losses and causalities in this life.) Second, it is possible for us to lower our shields.

My father was a boxer. He taught me how to box. I remember the frustration I would feel when we boxed. He always pulled his punches, never hit me really hard, but when we boxed, I could never land a punch on him. His guard was impeccable, impenetrable.

I had a pretty good guard as well (due to my extreme sense of survival). My father however would simply pound away at my fore-arms each and every round. Soon, I would find my arms sore and tired and I could no longer keep up my defense. Then he would land his blow (pulled), look me in the eye and say, “Keep your guard up!”

Here was the problem. I knew that. I tried the best I could to do that. But his repeated blows weakened me. Soon I was wide open, and, were he not pulling his punches, I would have been susceptible to what would certainly be a knock-out blow.

The devil works much the same way. He wears us down, beats us around the edges so to speak, and when we grow weary, when we lower our shield, he steps in for the knock-out punch. Notice our text says God is our shield, but doesn’t let us of the hook, our hearts have to be right.