I suppose it’s only natural but I find myself reading the Bible with a Covid-19 mind. Take ‘shielding’. I am one of those people who according to the Scottish Government need to observe restrictions in my lifestyle to ensure protection against Covid-19. Fair enough. Even if this means not being able to wander beyond my garden gate. For my own protection I have to regard myself as ‘under shielding.’
It’s not a huge leap to consider the shielding that is a theme in the Bible. Yesterday I came across David’s words in Psalm 3: 3:
‘But you are a shield around me, O Lord;
you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.’
At a time of great pressure in his life David takes comfort from the idea of being shielded by his God. As a military man he would know the importance of a good shield so it is not hard for him to imagine God providing even more expansive protection. This is just one of 19 such references in the Psalms but the idea is prominent throughout Scripture. In many instances we see the faith that God can provide physical protection for His people in times of danger. But there are other texts which in a sense go deeper. God protecting the soul from harm. Here is Psalm 5: 12:
‘For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favour as with a shield.’
And Psalm 28: 7:
‘The Lord is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him and I am helped.’
I can only think of two references in the New Testament. Paul speaking of the Christian’s armour in spiritual warfare writes:
‘ . . . take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one.’ (Ephesians 6: 16)
Peter speaking of the default spiritual state of the believer describes those ‘who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the lats time.’ (1 Peter 1: 5)
Neither Paul or Peter could ever claim that they had always been shielded from physical danger but they were convinced of a deeper shielding. They trusted that even in their worst of times they could be sure that their souls were safe with God. That is to say nothing would ever affect their place in the heart of God, His good purpose for them in this life and their fulfilment in the coming Kingdom. Is this not what Jesus means in John 10: 27-28:
‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.’
The believer is in the hands of the Good Shepherd and no one or nothing will ever prise us away. We are called to regard our souls as shielded against the spiritual dangers of sin, death and the devil.
One of the most inspiring examples of someone taking this to heart is in the life of a nineteenth century American lawyer named Horatio Spafford. In 1873 the Spafford family had planned a holiday in England. Late business demands meant that Spafford had to remain in America while the family went ahead. While crossing the Atlantic their ship was in collision with another vessel. 226 people were killed including Spafford’s four daughters. As Spafford sailed to England to join his grieving wife Anna he wrote a hymn which begins:
‘When peace like a river attendeth my way;
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.’
I find this profoundly moving. If you have ever sung the whole hymn with its soaring chorus you get a sense of a man seeking to apply to his inner being everything that he knows about God, everything that has been revealed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
‘Though Satan should buffet, though trails should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.’
A man who believed that because of Jesus and His work for us we are shielded from the worst that spiritual darkness can do. It’s easy enough, if challenging, for me to conform to the instructions from the Scottish Government on shielding but I need to be in constant prayer with Spafford that the ‘blest assurance’ of the Gospel, the great truths that flow from Jesus will ‘control’ my inner being. John Newton invites us to sing:
‘Be though my Shield and Hiding-place,
That, sheltered near Thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him Thou hast died.’
