A brief recap ~
The 3 Truths You Know
Life happens. Rain. Sun. Heat. Cold. Wind. Snow. Skin is a poor defense against those things. We all experience them. We all have skin. Therefore, we all need something else. That something else is a shelter.
Some people just don’t like you. Rightly or wrongly. Personally or impersonally. At best they don’t care, but mostly they care only for your harm and demise. We are vulnerable. We need a shield.
You are dumb and weak. Maybe not in your professional field, recreational interests, or doing sudokus. But in most things you either don’t have a clue or don’t have the strength. We’re sheep. We need a shepherd.
The 3 Truths You Hope To Find
An open door. When the elements exert their power over us, our first and only thought is, ‘How can I get out of this?’ Anything will do. But something permanent would be perfect.
A safe place. Arrows of hatred whiz by. Unkind words stab. Mistreatment stings. To just be ignored will do, but to be saved would be perfect.
A hero. When you don’t know, you want to know someone who does. When you can’t, you hope there is someone who can. A stranger will do, but a father would be perfect.
Jesus, My Shelter: Protection from the elements (Part 1)
Jesus, My Shield: Protection from enemies
Have you felt your vulnerability today? A better question would be how many times have you felt your vulnerability today? It’s open season, and you are squarely in the crosshairs of seemingly everyone (and sometimes everything) else.
Why do we feel like that? Because it’s true.
When you and I walked into sin (just like Adam and Eve, from whom we inherited that bent to do so), we simultaneously decided to walk away from the covering of God. We decided that our way of doing things was the better way of doing things. At least for us, it was.
What we failed to realize was that those very words we were revolting against and discarding because they were too strict, or archaic, or irrelevant, or simply a myth were more of a defense for us than an attack against us. When we turned away from the words of God, we turned away from the protection of God. This reality along with the real presence of enemies is what produces our vulnerability.
We have spiritual enemies, the chief of which is Satan. On our own we’ve never stood a chance (again, see: Adam & Eve). We’re vulnerable to his accusations because we have sinned and are in fact guilty. We succumb to his deception because we don’t have the solid bedrock of God’s words illuminating truth. And our lives become awash with doubt because on our own, in the end, all we really have is…ourselves.
But we, also, all become physical enemies to each other when we walk away from the covering of God. Billions of people living according to their own set of standards and who appoint themselves as their sole authority, determining their own right and wrong, is a boiling pot ready to overflow with scalding hatred, evil, and pain.
Everyone’s defenses are up because we have all become vulnerable. We have no shield.
Jesus has become to us the shelter from the wrath of God, and if we take refuge in Him from the elements of life we will also find Him to be a shield from our enemies.
Not only are we shielded in the midst of attack, but we are released from trying to be our own defense. We can put down the weapons we’ve trained on those around us. And, rather than being another enemy, we are freed to become healers and helpers.
We are vulnerable as long as we are in our sin. We will always have enemies in this life, but we don’t have to be one. Be shielded by Jesus today. Forgiven of sin. Saved from enemies.
“The LORD is…my shield. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.” - Psalm 18:2-3
Jesus, My Shepherd: Provision for everything
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