Sunday, 30 April 2017

God is our shield

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Psalm 3:4(3) "But You, Adonai, are a shield around me, my glory and the lifter of my head." (TLV)

The Hebrew word translated "around me" is Ba'adi. It is actually a preposition with a basic meaning of "through". It is fairly common, being used in the Hebrew Scriptures almost 1200 times. A deeper meaning would be "on behalf of". When we apply that to our verse, we find that God is declared to be a shield (protection from any offensive weapon) on behalf of each of us. This then, is the message of salvation.

Does God promise protection in the Bible? From Deuteronomy (31:6) to 2 Thessalonians (3:3) we find God's promise to protect His people. Does this mean none of us will ever suffer harm? By no means. It is important to understand we live in this world that we see, and at the same time, we live in an unseen spiritual world. The reality of all things is spiritual. We must not be confused by this.

God promises in Isaiah 43:5 "Fear not, for I (God) am with you." Then God goes even further, declaring that He is our glory and the one who lifts (raises) our heads. This is a part of God's promise that His people will not be ashamed. One who is ashamed hangs his head. The opposite is to raise our heads and be proud (not to be confused with the sin of pride) of who we are in Him.