God Will Protect You

For most parents, there is nothing more important than making sure our children are safe. Bike helmets, elbow and kneepads for sports, baby strollers that look like moon buggies, safety gates, and car seats with 5-point harnesses. We do everything we can to ensure our kids are protected from injury.

Protection vs. Fear

Sometimes our efforts to protect our kids or grandkids veer away from a protective nurturing into full-blown fear of harm. We move from exercising the responsibility God gave us to fearing God lacks sufficient power to do what He says. In crossing this line, we assume a burden He never desired for us to bear. As Philip Nation writes in Bible Studies for Life, “How do we find that line? How do we balance between living in unhealthy fear and living with total disregard for the threats that challenge us? Such balance is gained through trust in God’s protection. No matter what we face, we can know God is present.”¹

God’s Faithfulness is our Protection

Psalm 91 has served as a shelter through life’s storms for many of God’s people. The Psalmist writes, “The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’ He Himself will deliver you from the hunter’s net, from the destructive plague. He will cover you with His feathers; you will take refuge under His wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield.”

God is Immoveable

It is interesting that God is portrayed as both a refuge and a fortress. Neither of these things move. Both a refuge and a fortress are places we go; they are places we seek when we need rest, restoration, or protection. When the psalmist writes that God is a refuge and a fortress, we receive the image of God protecting us when we are under attack. The word translated fortress is also translated in numerous Old Testament passages as stronghold or castle. It is a place the soldiers, often King David or his army, went when under attack or to avert an attack.

God is our Protection

The picture for us could not be more clear. God is our protection. He does not merely provide protection, though He does, He is our protection. Where should we go when we are under attack at work? The Lord is our fortress. Where should we take our family when we are under attack? The Lord is our fortress. Where should we go when it seems culture is caving in? The Lord is our fortress. He is our protection and strength.

God’s Presence is all we Need

How does God respond? What can He do? According to the psalmist, God delivers, He covers, He provides refuge, and He is faithful. The presence of God is what we need; the presence of God is all we need. He is our peace.

Having these assurances, let us not wait in running to God. Let Him be our first choice, not second, third, or last. God does not call us to be the fortress; God calls us to the fortress, and that fortress is Himself.

Yours for the Great Commission,

Ronnie W. Floyd

¹– Bible Studies for Life, Storm Shelter, Philip Nation