Psalm 89:18

Psalm 89:18 ¹⁸ For our shield belongs to the Lord, And our king to the Holy One of Israel.

In our last post we talked about God being our strength, today let’s talk about Him being our shield.

Remember that the theme of this Psalm is His covenant with David. We can count on the fact that if God has entered into a covenant with someone than that covenant will not be broken. Look at the truths about God that we’ve discussed so far:

God is completely holy and just (vs 14)

God is completely faithful (vs 9)

God is all powerful (vs 13)

God is everywhere (vs 12)

With all of those things being true what does the Christian have to fear? God is with us all the time and there is nothing that can be done to separate us from Him (Romans 8:31-39, John 10:28-29)

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 43:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Tie that in with today’s verse and we’ve got a pretty good hiding place. Our protection at every moment comes from the Lord! We are constantly under his watchful eye and we are never farther away than His arms length. He is there for us with but a word. As Christians we are the most protected beings in existence. God is on our side.

But what about all of the “bad” things that still happen to us? I’ll let you in on a little secret - THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS NOT ABOUT PHYSICAL COMFORT! I’d like to etch in the doors of my church under the heading of “A Sampling of the Christian Walk” Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 11:

24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—

Are you ready to sign up for that? We must remember that the shielding and protection that Scripture talks of has more to do with your eternal soul than it does with provision for the body. I won’t put Matthew 6:25-34 here due to space concerns but go and take a look at it. It talks of not worrying about the provision for the body but instead worry about the provision for the soul. Our eternity is secure with God! There is no-one or nothing that can harm us at that level. One last thought about how God provides for his people with a snippet from ”Sometimes He Calms the Storm” by Scott Krippayne:

Sometimes He calms the storm
With a whispered peace be still
He can settle any sea
But it doesn’t mean He will
Sometimes He holds us close and lets the wind and waves go wild
Sometimes He calms the storm
And other times he calms His child

What about the back part of our verse from today? The translations of the Bible that I have either render the verse as “our king to the Holy One of Israel” or “our king is the Holy One of Israel”. I really don’t have a problem with either rendering. They both remind us that God is completely sovereign. The leaders of this world ultimately belong to God and His will cannot be thwarted. God will be glorified either by their willing service to Him or He will be glorified in their rebellion against Him. (See Psalm 2 and Proverbs 21:1)

My prayer for us is that we rest in the comfort of knowing that God is for us.