God is Our Shield . . . And One More Truth

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” Genesis 15:1

One of the incredible lines in the Bible.  God is our shield and I’m sure only heaven will reveal how much God has shielded from our lives. By its nature, we don’t often get to see when God shields us. But every now and then, we get a glimpse.

I was a young 20-something, newly minted attorney. Dan and I were married and had both just gotten started in our careers. Let’s just say around this time, I was driving challenged. Or maybe it was spatially challenged but either way, I had racked up a few fender benders.

Most of them were minor scrapes or bumps as I was backing out of a parking space or in stop-and-go traffic. Most cost less than our deductible but the costs were adding up. Plus, I was pretty embarrassed, as patient as Dan was with me. And I realized that if I didn’t start paying attention, I might end up in a really bad accident.

One evening, after leaving a note on someone’s car I bumped into while parallel parking, I came home and just sobbed. I was so young in my walk with Christ. I lay my head on the couch and prayed that God would help me change my driving and protect me.

Fast forward a few months. I was heading to an early morning deposition on an 8-lane highway. The road was packed with morning commuters and traffic was moving briskly – at least 60 mph.

All of a sudden, the car ahead and one lane over began to lose control. It bobbed back and forth between lanes, hitting the car in front of me, the car next to me and the next car over. It started spinning, hit the car in back of me and another car beside it, and then rolled over, finally landing in the grassy shoulder.

In the split seconds that all of this happened, my car somehow managed to move through the weaving and spinning, the only car in the entire pack not to get hit.  I was stunned. It had all happened so quickly that I could only hold my breath and watch as every single car in front, beside and right behind me collided.

God had answered this young girl’s prayer and showed conclusively that He is a shield.

Maybe you’ve seen this in your own life. Maybe you can name a time and place when God shielded you from a temptation or a path or an injury.

I am your shield, God tells us.

But if He is our shield, then there’s another truth that follows.

When we find ourselves facing that temptation or dealing with the flooded laundry room or listening to the diagnosis, God has allowed it.

He could have shielded it, but He has sovereignly allowed it to pass through.

God will either shield it from us or take care of us in it.  

I have bathed in this truth all week. When my health insurance looked like it was going haywire, I trusted that God had allowed it. He would take care of us in it. [He did.]

When my septic backed up on the night before I was cooking dinner for 30ish college students, what could I do? I trusted that God had allowed it. He would take care of us in it. [He did.]

This promise is for us as as it was for Abram.  Put your name in this promise: Do not fear, ___________. I am your shield, your very great reward. God is either shielding you from it or will take care of you in it.

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