Psalm 91:4 He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
The first half or this verse is truly a picture of motherly compassion and nurturing.
Did you ever think of Father God as someone who wants to nurture and protect you with the compassion of a mother?
Jesus said, “..How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings..
God longs to gather us, to nurture us, to protect us under His wings. He wants to draw you in close and hold you tight.
Psalm 86:15 tells us our God is full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.” The Hebrew word for compassion is even used to describe how the womb surrounds an unborn child to nurture and protect the child.
Jesus was often moved with compassion, Matthew 14:14 tells us when Jesus saw the great multitude; He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. This is just one of many such references.
The second part of this verse talks about the truth of God’s Word is our shield and our buckler. When we believe something other than the Word of God, we give place to the enemy in our life. So many teach and believe we give place to the enemy by sinning.
Jesus has taken care of the sin problem. Psalm 103:10 tells us “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.” Sin is the result of giving place to the enemy. Did you get that?Sin is the result, not the cause. The devil had to get Eve to believe the lie before he could get her to act on it. He had to get her to believe something other than the Word God had given them. Knowing the truth is our defense against the lies of Satan. The truth is our weapon, our shield and our buckler.
We put down our shield when we believe the lies of the devil. It’s not knowing the truth of who we are and what we have in Christ Jesus that gives place to the fiery darts of the enemy. God does not punish us for sin by removing our shield, that punishment was put on Jesus. Paul shows his concern for the saints in 2 Cor 11:3 when he states, “..I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Sin causes trauma to our soul, it causes us to draw away from God, it causes our conscience to condemn us, it causes us to not pray. Sin causes death and destruction to our relationships, our bodies, and every aspect of our life. It is no wonder why God hates sin, it produces death.
Eph 6:16 tells us, “above all, take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Here Paul uses the phrase, “above all”, above all take up the shield of faith.
Let me share a personal story to illustrate. It is a simple everyday life story, but that is where we need to begin to take up the shield of faith, in the little things.
The first time I put my newborn baby into the church nursery, all kinds of anxious thoughts flooded my soul. “What if he’s afraid?” “What if he won’t take his bottle?” “What if they’re too busy?” I thought as I walked from the education wing to the main sanctuary, then Word of God rose up on the inside of me by the power of the Holy Spirit. I took up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit declaring, “All my children are taught of the LORD, and great is the peace of my children. (Is 54:13)” Over and over I declared the scripture as I walked. By the time I was seated in the sanctuary, the fiery darts of anxiety had been quenched, my mind was in perfect peace and I was ready to receive the Word. I was so confident in God’s Word, I believed angels would take care of my baby if he needed it. Much to my delight, when I returned to the nursery, I was told, “If all the babies were like yours, we would have no trouble at all.” Praise God!
How important is it to know the Word of God? It is our sword, our shield and our buckler. If I had not previously meditated on Is 54:13, it would not have been there to bubble up in my heart. I dare say the enemy’s plan to steal from me would have succeeded. The enemy wanted me to worry about my baby during the whole service and miss what the Holy Spirit had for me that day and if he could get it done, he would soon have me staying home from the services believing I could not trust God to take care of him in the church nursery.
When the devil came to tempt Jesus, Jesus refuted his temptations with the Word of God and the devil left for another time because he could find no place in Jesus. The Word will fight for you. The Word will do the work. Speak the Word! It is written..
I have been going over Is 54 lately and verses 9 & 10 also address God isn’t angry with us or punishes us.
9“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me;
For as I have sworn
That the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth,
So have I sworn
That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
It is a lie from the enemy, Satan, who has convinced so many people that God is angry or rejects them when they sin because there are so many verses that tell of His loving kindness and compassion. This shows how important it is to know the Word and not just go by what you feel or hear other people say.
Amen!
Amen!!!!!!
Amen!