April 6, 2021 — God, The Believer’s Shield

Of the hundreds of pictures used of God in the Bible, here’s one that is most encouraging.

Having rescued Lot and the inhabitants of the cities of the plain, with all their goods, Abram should have been the one to receive the spoils of war. But he decided to relinquish this right for the honor of God. He didn’t want anyone claiming they had a hand in his blessing—only God. However, he did have three confederates who had gone with him on the rescue operation. He had strong personal convictions himself, but he would not impose those on the other men. “Let them take their portion,” he explained to Sodom’s king. Here’s a good example to follow: always be consistent with your own convictions, but let others make their own decisions. Just after these meetings with the king of Salem and the king of Sodom, Abram had one more royal engagement, this time with the King of kings. Genesis 15:1 reads, “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’” In other words, You were right to let the king of Sodom have the shoelaces and the rest of the stuff, for My glory. But Abram, you haven’t lost out. You have Me—I am “your exceedingly great reward.” And more than that, the Lord adds, “I am your shield.” The psalmist liked this thought and used it almost 20 times in referring to the Lord. What does it mean that the Lord is our shield? Well, a shield comes between us and our enemy; it’s designed to protect us. Believers’ lives are edited: nothing can get to us but it must first go through the Lord’s heart. And He has promised to eliminate anything not for our good. We say with David in Psalm 18:30, “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.”