God as Protector

The first Sunday night of each month is a time for us to pray. Tonight we are going to pray through the names on our prayer list and to share in a time of being reminded of God’s protection in thought and singing. Turn to Psalm 34. This is a song that David wrote after an episode in 1 Samuel 21. David is fleeing from Saul arriving in Gath. Gath is almost due west of Jerusalem in the land of the Philistines. In that land, David’s fame was well known. To preserve his own life, David feigned insanity. He acted like a madman, marking up the doors of the city gate and letting spit run down his beard. It was an act to protect himself.

David writes Psalm 34 as a way of praising God for deliverance from a bad situation. There are several parts of this psalm in which David praises God for his protection and deliverance. Look at verse 5. Their faces are never covered with shame. David’s face was covered with shame when standing at the gates of Gath he acted like a madman. Spit running into his beard and off his chin. Everyone called him a madman when David knew what the truth really was. There was no madness. There was a need to be protected and he took the means necessary to carry that out. How did God deliver? Its hard to pretend to be a madman when you aren’t. David was very convincing. But God perhaps darkened eyes so that they could not see clearly.

But don’t stop there. Find comfort in verse 7. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Isn’t this a beautiful picture. Warfare of the spiritual realm cannot be seen with the eyes. We may see the consequences of such battles but the battle in the spiritual realm is seen only through faith. The assurance is that God’s angel is around those who belong to him. The question is are we to take this literally. Without getting into a huge study of angels, there is a NT passage which speaks to this point. Hebrews 1:14 says that angels minister to those who belong to God. Here then in the OT is the same truth spoken. There are indeed angels ministering to us. They provide protection and deliverance. What a comforting picture. We do not see them, but they are there. We may not even be aware of their work, and most of the time we probably will not, but they are working on our behalf.

Did David think that nothing bad could happen to him because of God’s protection? No. David experienced too many bad things for that to be true. It would be false for us to assume that God’s protection means the end of problems. What then does it mean? Look in verse 19. There will be many troubles, but God delivers from them all. Many scholars read this verse with a view of seeing something beyond the present. Those scholars see this meaning that there is deliverance after death. If that is true, then David had some special insight into the ways of God. But let’s take a practical look.

Most of us have been through some things that we thought we would never survive. Not physically, but emotionally. Where did the strength come from? What allows you now to be on the other side of things and still be standing? Do you think God’s angel may have ministered to you. As I go through things in this life, I become more convinced that some kind of supernatural strength has to come from somewhere else. There are some things that make me realize how little strength I really have. God is doing something.

We have already prayed for those who are part of our family here. We are now going to pray for those who are related to many of us. We are going to ask for God’s protection for them and that He will deliver them from their troubles. We are also going to ask for God’s angels to attend to them. Following this prayer time, we will have one final song for those who need to take the Lord’s Supper, then we will be dismissed.

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