The word “protection” just brought into your mind many different images. A policeman, a solider, a shield, McAfee software, seat belts (not so much, shame on you), locks on a door, or an alarm system. We seek protection because we feel there may be a threat to us personally. That threat could be physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. We seek and want protection because we don’t want any harm to come to us or those that we love.
We do not live in an ideal world. Friends are not as friendly as they should be. Neighbors are not as neighborly as they could be. And enemies are not as easily reconciled as we wish they would be. Bad things happen to good people and good people are not as good as we might imagine. When sin entered the world it forever set in motion the need for protection from others and from ourselves. The problem with protection in my mind is that at times it seems very elusive. How many times have we prayed for protection and God seems to be silent. Where is the hit man with his 44 magnum pointed at our enemies? In Psalm 27:1,7-9 the Bible says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior." I am sure we can all relate to David’s plea to our heavenly Father for protection.
The Bible gives us mental images of God as our strong tower, our shield, our deliverer, our shelter in the time of storm(s), all powerful, our defender, and our protector. He is God, so why does it seem sometimes that He is not protecting us. It might be because we are seeking and can only comprehend a physical presence of God. Some of us have witnessed angels miraculously stepping in and helping us although this is not an everyday occurrence. It could be we need an audible voice from God telling us He will protect us and that would give us reassurance He is there. I think it is natural in our human thinking to believe God is only protecting us if there is a physical presence we can see or hear, fortunately that is not all of the Biblical truth on this subject.Many would feel unprotected if that was the case. It does boil down to trusting God. Do we believe that He is God and we can trust Him totally? He says he will never leave us or forsake us. He says He always has what is best for us in mind. He says in His final words before He ascends into Heaven that He will be with us always. He will never be “disarmed” for us. So even though we don’t think He is protecting us because we have languished in this pain past our threshold, or things don’t turn out the way we anticipated, in other words not a positive ending in our minds, He is there!
That does not mean that we don’t keep asking for His protection. Asking God for his protection is not a pleasantry we can take lightly but a necessity we must take seriously. When we signed on the dotted line to fight in this spiritual war 24/7 we demanded His protection. Without it we will lose the battle, but never the war. Do not hide your face from me, Oh God, protect me from . . . . 