God is our shield and defender

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid: For the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song…”—Isaiah 12:2

We live today in a world of unrest socially, politically and even spiritually. It is a world in which men are lovers of their own selves, covetous, unthankful, heady, high-minded and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. It is a world in which wickedness, envy and deceit seem to fill the hearts of men (2 Tim. 3:1-5, Rom. 1:21-32). Sometimes I have a tendency to become a little tired and weary and want to cry out, “How long O Lord, How long.”

The greatest and most important decisions we ever make in this life are those that have to do with our eternal well being once we put off this earthly tabernacle. Our eternal salvation will not come from the words and deeds of any mortal man. The author of our salvation is the one who died for us on the cross of Calvary (Heb. 5:8-9). We need to be impressed with the love that God had/has for us (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8, 1 John 3:1). It is by the hand of God that we are delivered from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of light (Col. 1:12-17). Truly, as is often sung, “My hope is built on Christ the solid rock, all other ground is sinking sand”. The one thing I desire above all else is to one day be ushered out into eternity to meet my God and hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant” (2 Cor. 5:10, Matt. 25:21). I trust that all who read this will feel the same way.

My friends, with our trust place firmly in God we will be safe and secure. You see, he is our shield and defender (Psalms 18:1-3). His presence is ours and because of this even though dangers may threaten, we know that they will never be able to harm us or separate us from the love of God (Heb. 13:5, Rom. 8:31, 35-39). With the utmost conviction we can say, “The Lord is my helper” (Heb. 13:6). Peter tells us to cast our burdens on him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Hear the writer of Hebrews as he tells us that we can come boldly to the throne of grace and receive mercy and help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). One of the greatest assurances of this comes from Psalms 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”. Never forget, when the storm clouds gather, the wind begins to blow, the lightening flashes and the thunder roars, we are safe in his arms. As a child of God we can sing from the deepest recesses of our hearts, “Safe in the arms of Jesus, Safe on His gentle breast, There by his love o’ershaded, Sweetly my soul shall rest”. Hear him, believe him, confess him, repent of sins and be baptized into him (Rom. 10:17, John 20:21, Luke 13:3, Rom. 10:10, Gal. 3:27).

At this hour of our lives, joy should reign supreme in our hearts because we have been washed whiter than snow. We really have no reason to be fearful and/or sad even though this is a dreary old world in which we live. Paul instructs us to rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4). I only pray that each of us will express our joy in living daily for Jesus, letting our lights shine so that he will be glorified. To God be the glory forever and ever—Amen.

Charles Hicks

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