There have been times in my life when I could have used a protector - someone to stand between me and the bad things, or wicked persons, in this world and create a bit of a shield. Times when I have needed someone bigger than me, stronger than me, wiser than me, more patient than me.
There have been times when I have needed someone to protect me from myself (which, by the way, is no easy task).
And there have been times in my life when I have been able to look back and see that Someone was indeed doing this all along.
It's hard to prove things in the negative. That is, it's extremely difficult to say that something didn't happen that was obviously going to because you can never really prove that it would have happened if that specific intervention didn't take place. One of the most powerful recent examples of this is when they started coming out with all of these estimates of how many persons would have died from Covid without the vaccination. They kept claiming how many lives were saved, how many deaths prevented, by the vaccine, but the truth is, you can't know who would have died and who wouldn't have. They still don't know why some got so sick and others didn't and some died and some didn't. Scientifically, it's just impossible to quantify something that never happened.
But I can tell you, looking back on my life, that there are a lot of different roads I could be down right now, were it not for some kind of intervention I didn't even recognize at the time but see so beautifully in hindsight.
And every single one of those instances is the very hand of God. For as the psalms say, the Lord guards you (121:5).
The Lord stands as your protector - getting between you and the bad things, or the wicked persons, of this world. The Lord stands as your shield. The Lord blocks off a path that's not any good for you and forces you down a better way.
The Lord protects you from yourself. Usually through things like humility and confession and grace.
He's willing to stand in the hard places and face the tough things because He's bigger than you, stronger than you, wiser than you, more patient than you. God is uniquely qualified to guard you, to wrap you in His loving arms and create a bit of a shield. A hedge of protection, if we want to use a more spiritual term.
And He's guarding you right now. Look at what the psalm says - He guards you. Not He has guarded you or He will guard you, but He guards you. Right now. With every breath. In every day.
Are you at a time in your life when you could use a protector?
Rest easy, friend. You have one.
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