365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 38: Shield

Shield

"Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song." (Psalm 28:6,7 NIV)

I'm so grateful to have gained a new understanding of this name of God when I took part in a Bible study on the armor of God. My study sisters and I learned that, in ancient times, when opposition forces attacked an army with arrows, the enemy's hope at that point was not to kill with those arrows but to distract so that a subsequent mortal blow could be inflicted by other means. 

The soldiers under attack would divert their attention to those arrows, making them vulnerable to a lethal blow. But if they huddled together in what was called a turtle formation and raised their shields, those arrows could be deflected, and the troops would be saved for further fighting. 

Faith in God our Shield preserves us for the fight, too. There are real battles to be won: battles for our marriages, battles for our friendships, battles for our children's minds and hearts. The enemy wants us to be so distracted by lesser things that we are rendered weak or worse for the battles that really matter. Be aware and alert, dear noggins. Then raise your Shield and fight today's good fight.

"O worship the King,

All glorious above,

And gratefully sing,

His wonderful love.

Our Shield and Defender,

The Ancient of Days,

Pavilioned in splendor,

And girded with praise."

("O Worship the King," words by Robert Grant, music attributed to Johann Michael Haydn/arranged by William Gardiner; listening sample from 2nd Chapter of Acts)

365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 37: Father of Lights

Father of Lights

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17 NIV)

When I was in college, I took a required class called "Biblical Applications for Human Experience." I think the long course name was a way for my alma mater to justify charging us $200 a credit hour to essentially learn how to study the Bible. In spite of this inflation, it was a great class, and pieces of it have stuck with me all these years. 

We spent an entire semester clawing our way through the book of James, exploring every high and low and every tiny word I would normally have considered insignificant. Even now, James remains the most marked-up book in the Bible I've had the longest. 

Today's verse from James 1 is one of my favorites. I love the contrast between shifting shadows and the Father of Lights.

Shifting shadows confuse; the Father of Lights clarifies. 

Shifting shadows distort; the Father of Lights defines. 

Shifting shadows lie to us; the Father of Lights leads us in truth. 

Shifting shadows fade; the Father of Lights is faithful. 

Walk in the light today, sweet friends. Walk with the Light.

365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 36: Spirit of Power

Spirit of Power

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." (Isaiah 11:1,2 NIV)

When I first saw the house my husband thought we should buy and turn into our permanent earthly home until we took up residence in our eternal heavenly home, I took one look at the ramshackle 100-year-old farmhouse that looked like it needed at least 100 years' worth of work, scoffed derisively, and kept on driving.

My husband, though, maintained that buying it was a wise decision. When he listed its selling points, he said things like, "It's got an updated electrical panel with 120-amp service." 

I wanted a gourmet kitchen and a spa bathroom, and he gave me an updated electrical panel.

The thing was, though, that having a reliable, sufficient power source was foundational for anything else we might do to the house. And so, too, with our spiritual houses: whatever else we might try to do, if we don't get ourselves connected first and regularly to the Spirit of Power, we're going to fizzle out.

As with all the gifts of the Spirit, coming up with the power is not our responsibility; it's His. Our job is not to create the power; our job is to connect to it. We connect to the Spirit of Power when we pray. We connect when we memorize Scripture. We connect when we listen to worship music. We connect when we drag ourselves out of bed on Sunday morning and get ourselves to church, even when—especially when—we don't want to. We connect when we invest in relationship with friends of faith. We connect when we follow God's lead and take the enormous risk of loving.

My family and I have lived in the house I didn't want to buy for 18 years now. It might not be the house I would have chosen based on that first drive-by, but it is a place where my husband, children, and I can regularly connect to the Spirit of Power. And that's better than a gourmet kitchen or a spa bathroom any day.