The scripture says that the Lord is a shield to those who put their faith in Him. In Genesis 15:1 God told Abraham to fear not, for He was his shield and very great reward. The Lord will come into our lives and so provide us with His wisdom that we will be shielded from problems that would otherwise have come upon us. What do I mean by that? By having the Lord in our lives and following His ways we are saved a world of heartache which we would have encountered. God is perfectly willing to provide us with the wisdom we need to navigate our way through life. As we follow Christ our lives are encircled with His shield of power and protection. This is not the kind of protection that keeps all bad things from happening to us, but it’s God’s protection against the attacks of the devil. That protection only comes to the faithful; to those who have shielded themselves with God’s Spirit and wisdom.
There are worlds of people who are not living, but rather are only surviving. That is not how Christ has called us to live. Christ has called us as His followers to walk in spiritual victory. I was having a conversation with someone recently and we were talking about looking at life and making plans for the future. What I said was that we should not sit back and just let life happen to us, but rather we are to move boldly forward toward what God has called us to do. There is a difference in those two outlooks, isn’t there? The first just goes along taking whatever road and wind of change comes along. But the latter, the one committed to Christ and firmly planted in Him, walks steadfastly in the power of the Holy Spirit. David, the one who wrote this Psalm, was experiencing the greatest spiritual victories when he was taking this approach to life. He did not sit back and let life happen, but rather he sought to move forward and accomplish what the Lord had called him to do. It was when he stopped taking this proactive approach to life that his troubles began.
The wisdom that God offers, the wisdom that comes from having God’s Word in our hearts, will take us to a level of understanding that is unavailable to those who reject the Lord. Life is hard; we need all the strength and power we can get to navigate our way through it. The Lord will freely give us the power to do just that. And Jesus promised that He would help and guide us every step of the way.
