Shields are one of the oldest defensive tools ever created. Historically they’ve come in different shapes and sizes to help protect the person under attack. The most impressive shield I’ve seen is the Iron Dome. It covers the entire country of Israel. When a rocket is fired towards Israel, it activates and sends interceptor missiles at the incoming ones with over a 90% success rate. In 2024, one of Israel’s enemies tried to overwhelm the Iron Dome by sending more than 150 missiles at one time. The shield protected Israel from 99% of them. Like most shields, it protected against casualty and infrastructure attacks. It’s no wonder that Paul wrote that we should take up the Shield of Faith.
In 1 Samuel 30, David and his men were sent away from the battle they had agreed to fight in. He had been living in Philistine while running from King Saul and was prepared to fight with them. Upon returning home to the city of Ziklag, David found that they had been attacked while they were at the battle front. They city had been burned down, their families had been taken and the men were about to stone David. Instead of crumbling under the pressure from the attack on all sides, verse 6 says, “But David found strength in the LORD his God” (NLT). David raised up his Shield of Faith in defense to an attack from all sides and put his trust in God rather than his own ability to stand. He chose to trust God’s character over what he felt in the crisis.
Ephesians 6:16 says, “In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.” Like David, there are times when we are being attacked on all sides and it catches us off guard. In those moments, we need to lift up the Shield of Faith and find our strength in the Lord. We don’t just have to absorb the hits though. Like the Iron Dome, our shield can intercept attacks before they hit us. We can’t afford to walk through life unprotected. A good habit to get into is to physically go through the motions of putting on each piece of God’s armor. After that, pray that God would lift up the Shield of Faith over you so the fiery attacks of the enemy won’t land or cause damage in your life. We can trust God’s character, promises and faithfulness no matter what comes our way.
Photo by Yaren Kılıç on Unsplash
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