LW Baptist

By Rolland Coburn

Pastor

God is our shield. Of Job, it is said, “God has put a hedge around him,” (Job 1:10). The Lord told Abraham, “I am your shield and exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1). In Deuteronomy 33:29, Moses disclosed his nation’s greatest blessing: God is Israel’s shield. David prays, “You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory and the lifter of my head” (Psalm 3:3).

The promise is not just for people in the past. The Bible says, “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him” (Psalm 18:30).

But you say, “God’s people have also suffered and died.” Yes, yet not before their time. Our Lord in the flesh exemplifies this. You may remember how often his enemies tried to seize him, and failed. Why? His hour had not yet come (John 7:30). And so it is for all God’s people. We are overshadowed by his mighty power, as Mary our Lord’s mother was told (Luke 1:35). She summed it up, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1:47,49).

“But I am far from perfect,” you say, “not very saintly for a saint.” No, your righteousness cannot be self-righteousness. It must be borrowed, Christ’s righteousness. The Chinese character for righteousness illustrates this. It pictures “me under God’s lamb.” We are clothed, covered, shielded with his righteousness for time and eternity. This is what it means to take refuge in him so that God becomes our shield. Then we can join the Gospel poet in singing, “Overshadowed by His mighty love/Love eternal, changeless, pure/Overshadowed by His mighty love/Rest is mine, serene, secure/ He died to ransom me from sin/He lives to keep me day by day/ I’m overshadowed by His mighty love/ Love that brightens all my way.”

LW Baptist Church meets in the Amphitheater on Sunday from 9:30-10:30 a.m.