Good Morning!
“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 strike. 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 your 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
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