I Am Your Shield – by Desmond Ford
Dec 28, 2015 3030
In ancient times before the Bible was written, God appeared to men to encourage them that he loved them often in vision of the night.
You remember that in Genesis 14 Abraham is involved in a great military exploit of courage and had delivered his nephew, Lot. And there he had met one who was king and priest, whose name meant King of Righteousness, and who belonged to a city called Peace. This King of Righteousness had met him after the battle with bread and wine reminiscent of the Lord’s Supper to every Christian warrior.
Then in chapter 15 the very first words are,
After these things the word of the Lord came to Abraham in vision, ‘fear not Abraham, I am thy shield.’
You see, Abraham has just been dealing with kings and their armies. He has had success, but worldly success never lasts very long. Military conquests don’t last very long. The whole story of Europe is that of changing borders. Win one here and lose the next.
So Abraham gets this word from God: “Don’t be afraid Abraham, I know what you have been through. I know you have made a lot of enemies, Abraham, but I am your shield.”
What a great line! “Fear not, I am your shield.”
That is a great line for you, for me. Life is full of threats, threats from without and threats from within. Of the two, the second kind of threats are the worst, and more so, because we don’t believe it.
God says, “Abraham, fear not; I’m your shield and I will be you great reward.”
Remember, in the previous chapter a certain king of Sodom offers Abraham a lot of wealth. Abraham says he would not taken even a shoe latchet. So now God comes and says, ”Abraham, you said wisely, I am your reward; every other reward can vanish away but I am imperishable, eternal, immortal, everlasting. If you have me you have rewards forever; …you are very wise Abraham.”
I am nothing; God is everything. If I have Him, I have all that I need.
– Des Ford. Rom 8:27–32. Adapted from “The Night of Wrestling.”
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