Divine Protection

January 6... Genesis 15-17, Luke 6

Genesis 15:1... "After these events, the LORD's word came to Abram in a vision, 'Don't be afraid, Abram.  I am your protector.  Your reward will be very great.' "

Honestly, my gut response to God's pronouncement about being Protector is two-fold:  one, really?  Abram hears his family's been taken hostage,  goes after these kings Chuck Norris style and does it with just a few hundred LOYAL folks ... he needs a protector?  (Sure he does; you only need to read a few verses farther to be reminded that Abram has his knucklehead moments just like you and me.  Of course he needs a protector.)  And, two, whew!  If God stands by Abram, surely He stands by me, too.

When I consider what it means for God to be my protector, I have to admit that my next thoughts were surprising.  See if you can follow this train.  One of my biggest problems is that I still want to do everything myself, usually my way.  So, I'd rather think I need no protection ... until I find myself in one of those moments when I cannot do it myself, regardless of what IT is.  (Then, I'd rather like a Superhero Savior who comes in to save the day!) But, God knows my stubbornness; as a matter of fact, God intends that you and I have a choice in the matter - relying on our own limited strength, wisdom, etc., or submitting ourselves to Him and knowing the power of His strength, the depth of His wisdom, etc.  Instead of scrapping as hard as I can only to give up when I can't do it on my own, God has made a way for me to know the superhero kind of strength and wisdom all the time.  The armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17) is the way I live under God's protection every moment of every day.  Get this: "...be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength.  Put on God's armor so that ..."  Ephesians 6:10-11a.

Just like Abram was able to retrieve his family and all that belonged to him/them with only a small army, you and I can successfully do battle against all that would stand between us and God every day.  Instead of putting on my own strength, etc., God has blessed us with Truth, justice, a spiritual readiness that comes with knowing the gospel, faith, salvation and God's Word.   All of these are God's gifts to each of us, designed to protect us against the Enemy.  Newsflash:  they won't work if you don't put them on. 

God does intervene in miraculous ways at times - I've read it in Scripture and known it in my own life.  Day in and day out, it is still true that God is my protector ... and yours, too.  Letting Him be that begins with submitting myself, ourselves to HIS Truth, HIS justice, HIS Word, faith and salvation and spiritual readiness that come through Jesus Christ.

Lord God, you already know how stubborn I am and how I want to do it myself.  I'm weary of being weary because I fight under my own steam and my own insight.  I need you to be my Protector and I'm so glad that you want to be that for me.  Teach me how to yield myself to you - your wisdom, your power, your Truth, your everything.  I trust you God.  Amen.

In order for me to know the confidence and the reality of this Divine Protection, I have to yield to God my own best ideas (some really are good, but the idea is for them to be God's always!) and my own puny strength (feel free to imagine your own version of a Hans and Franz skit right here; just be sure to see yourself and your own scrawny arms to get the picture).  Only in this yielding am I ready to receive HIS best in return.