3-23-2015

Good Morning All,

        Psalm 18:30; “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”

    “Thick skinned”; it is something that we tell ourselves we have to be.  “You have to be thick skinned to be a ________.”  You can fill in the blank with a teacher, or a coach or a nurse or a secretary or whatever profession that you wish.  We all know that we face times, times of stress or attacks, when we need a thick skin in order to avoid the pain that can occur when cruel remarks or times of harsh criticism strikes.  You might be the clerk who has to listen to a customer berate you for the store not having the product they want to buy.  You might be the waiter or waitress who has to listen to the customer who is dissatisfied with the quality of the meal.  You might be the employee who receives the blame from your boss over the loss of a sale.  The list goes on and on.  There are many times when we need to be thick skinned.

    Our verse speaks of God who provides a thick skin for us.  The word shield here roughly translates to the scaly hide of a crocodile.  It was one of the better shields at this time.  It was lightweight, easy to carry and maneuver but able to resist the attacks that were launched at it.  This is how we can see God.  He protects us from the attacks of the devil.  He is able to quickly and easily respond to all the different ways that the devil will attack us.  Whether it is through causing doubts, or encouraging fear, or causing intense sorrow; the devil has many ways to attack us.  Yet we only have one defense, we only have the Word of the Lord as our shield as our thick skin.  And we know that the Word of the Lord is living and active.  We know that it will protect those whom he loves and he loves you.

    So when the battles of this life occur we need to seek out our refuge in the only sure defense that we have; we need to hide in God’s eternal love.  We will face problems in this world; God has warned us of that.  We know that they are only temporary and that the devil will not win.  We know that our victory is guaranteed by the blood of Jesus and that victory has been given to us through faith at our Baptism.  It is at our Baptism, where we are marked and claimed by God, where the down payment for God’s promise to us is made, that we begin to get to use the shield forever.  The shield is given to us to protect us from the devil and his pain.  We are given God’s great promise of love and mercy.  We have God as our shield and nothing can ever harm that.

Father, you are our rock and our fortress.  You alone give us hope.  In you we have a shield to defend us from all that the world throws at us.  You lift us up with you mercy that we might be saved by you.  Grant us peace in this life that we may ever hold fast to you.  In the precious name of Jesus our risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret