Daily Devotionals for Women - Today's Encouraging Word from Scripture

WHY I NEED A SHIELD

The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. Psalm 28:7

Shields pre-date Israel in warfare. Necessary to prevent injury, they came in all sizes. Sometimes the soldier carried his own. Other times he had a shield bearer, one who walked by him and shielded him as he fought. To think of my Father as my shield bearer is almost more than I can take in. Who can hurt God and why would He be so good to me! But the opposing question is this ~ Why am I hated so much that I need someone to defend me?

Satan’s personality profile has always included envy and entitlement. He wanted God’s throne and the worship that went with it. He felt He deserved it. Because God will not share His glory with another, Satan led a rebellion and was so charismatic in leadership that he convinced one-third of all the angels who worshiped God to defect. Satan and the fallen angels who followed his lead were flung to the earth as punishment and the war began. Anyone who is on God’s side, the One who refused to give Satan what he wanted, is an enemy. He hates me, not just because I’m me, but because I belong to his arch-enemy.

When God chooses to bless His children, Satan is still envious and entitled. He is out to destroy any blessing, any calling, any good thing that God desires to give me. Every promise of God must come with protective power because of the satanic attack that ensues to steal my blessing.

Satan did it in the garden with Adam and he’ll do it with me. He’ll make things so hard that I’ll be convinced that the blessing has been nullified and is no longer mine. I’ll throw up my hands and abdicate when, instead, I should be fully engaged in fighting for my blessing. I do my part – God does His by being my shield.

Over what should I be fighting with prayer and with scripture that I’ve declared hopeless? Over what am I blaming God for breaking His promise when it’s the enemy (and my passivity) that has obscured it? Scripture is mine to speak. Spiritual weapons are mine to wield. Prayer, and the victory it brings, happens on my knees.

I’ll never give in. Not by Your grace and the promise of Your protection. In Jesus’ name, Amen