Shielded

Fear not, Dear Reader! There is hope coming!!! So, I was reading my devotional one night, and I came across this verse. Now, I know you all liked ‘Weeping With Jesus’, so I thought I’d try a second one kind of like it. Let’s see how I do.

Also, I wanted to mention that, while this might seem like an entirely Christian post (blog, 🤪). It’s not. It goes for all of you out there who are not like me, or another person reading this. This post is not meant to make you uncomfortable, because it is only me wanting to put my thoughts on paper. Anyways, sorry for the hold up, let’s get started.

Psalm 3:3 (NCV): ‘Lord, you are my shield, my wonderful God who gives me courage.’

Okay, I really like this verse. Do you want to know why?…probably. Okay, let’s break it down then.

There are two points, (a) ‘Lord, you are my shield…,’ and (b) ‘…my wonderful God who gives me courage.’ Let’s take a look at the first part:

Let’s talk about a first here we speak of God like our Shield. (1)What does that signify? (2) How important is this? So, we all know what Medieval shields were, I think…. Just in case you don’t, I’ll explain: Every king (in the early ages) had an army (to fight off all the bad guys, of course. ;)) In that army were soldiers. And those soldiers wore armor. That armor not only consisted of the steel plaits and chainmail, but a sword and a shield. The shield went in between the soldier and the opposing force, weather it was another man’s sword, or his words.

(1) So, I’ll ask you again, what does this signify? (And you’ll say: “Good question, Claudia! What does this signify?”) *smiles widely* Good question. So, God goes between. God goes before and after. Our sword is our Faith, our Shield protects us from danger when using our sword (I should really look into Ephesians: Armor of God. That would be a good post…. Hahaha). Period. End of the sentence. (but is it?……… no.)

(2) Okay, next question. How important is this? Uh…, this is as important as breathing. Because, without our shield, our sword would be useless. There would be nothing to protect us, nothing to keep us from harm. Does that make sense? I hope so….

Uh, have you ever watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian? I’ve watched it, I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve watched it (it still counts, just so you know). If you have, you’ll remember that fighting scene where Peter (High King of Narnia) and Caspian’s (kinda a lesser king/prince of Narnia) stepfather fight one-on-one (the stepfather is the evil bad guy who wants to take over the kingdoms and ruin the magical Narnia so it’ll be all human land)? I know there’s a lot of fight scenes in that movie so I’ll be quick. (In this particular scene, it starts out with Peter fighting, then Caspian steps in. It’s just before the finale, and probably the best one-on-one scene in that movie).

I mean…in a sense, it really doesn’t matter which fight scene you chose as long as you chose one where one person fights the other. (anyways, back to my fight scene) Peter has a shield (always). And whenever Caspian’s stepfather hits him, Peter deflects. Or, the shield deflects the blow. So, in a world of imagination, we’re like Peter. We are protected by the Shield all the time, everywhere. It’s like math rules (but way easier). Whenever we get hit by something trying to overrule our faith (aka, an opposing sword), we are safe. Without our Shield, we have nothing to keep us safe. Just like breathing, without breathing, we have nothing to keep us alive. ;)

Okay, next breakdown point:

‘…my wonderful God who gives me courage.’ Okay, now. Let’s see...God gives us courage, yes. But why? Haha, I could write an entire other post (or three) on that and it still wouldn’t be enough to explain it all. What I meant to say is, how? How does God give us courage?

Well, I just wrote a whole bunch of words explaining how God is our shield. Well, that should explain itself, but it probably won’t, so here we go…:

God has promised us protection and safety if we are His servants and speak His Truth and wisdom. And so, God gives us courage because He protects us. If we had no shield, we would not run into battle. If we had no Father, we would not know how to…I dunno…speak in court? What I’m trying to say is that if we have no protection, everything else would be hard. Everything else wouldn’t work. But, now that we have protection, we can have courage, because there is always a shield on our backs. Bam, all done. Period. End of sentence. I’ll repeat that one more time: Because we have a Shield, we can have courage.

Courage does not come from blind faith. I mean, if you have faith at all it’s because something is there, right? (please correct me if I’m wrong!) Blind faith is a metaphor. Blind faith is not real when it comes to God and His word. Because the word ‘blind’ means you cannot see (obviously *rolls eyes* sorry), and we can see with God. If we are on the right path, doing what is right for the glory of the Lord, we are not running around holding onto this tiny trail of hopelessness. Right? ;) We have faith. And Jesus did make the blind men see, after all. ;)

Thank you, for reading this, and sticking with me.

You might be asking yourself what the purpose of this post is. And…I’d have to say I don’t really know yet. It’s kind of like my book. I didn’t know why I wrote it until I was writing up a proposal. I guess, I just wanted to say that it’s not…well, courage does not come from nothing. Courage is the result of being true to God, and trusting that He will be there, shielding you through thick and thin.

* So, as a reminder I will say, GOD YOU ARE MY STRENGTH AND MY COURAGE AND I LOVE YOU AND I PRAY THAT THE WOLD WILL SEE YOUR STEENGTH THROUH ME, FOREVER AND ALWAYS. YOUR WILL BE DONE, GRACEOUS LORD. AMEN.

*keep this in mind, it’s useful when you have nothing to pray*

Dear Reader,

Always remember that you are special and brave and no one can take that away from you. I am glad that you are in this world, that the Lord has brought you here, to read this. I am thrilled that I get to write for you, and that my words get to reach the places I can’t. (*winks* like our heart) But, that’s not the point. You are the point. The point is that you are touched by these words, and that they meant something to you. You couldn’t imagine how many times I’ve prayed that my words would reach just the right person. And I pray that again now, but for you. I pray that these words found the right person. That you were moved by something in here. Maybe it made you laugh. Maybe it made you sad. But, all I hope is that you were the one who read ‘Fear Not!!!’ You are the one who smiled and laughed. So, I’ll say it again. Thank you, so, so much.

NOTES:

These photos are not mine. Heck, if I could take photos of pretty streams in the middle of winter then…it would be a miracle *wink, wink*. I took (stole) the first two pictures from the Wix gallery. Credit to creators. :)

And…well, I am not a preacher. I have not gone specifically to preaching school (pastor school? I should look that up….). I’m just writing down my thoughts, and I hope they’re the Truth. So, yeah. :)

The link for this photo I stole off of the internet (third photo): https://www.deviantart.com/amurgaprins/art/medieval-shield-106759099

I pray you are steady and hold fast. And that you would be courageous. ;)

Thank you, Dear Reader. God bless you.

-Claudia