God protects you

Once when we were living in an apartment, I was trying to hang a mirror on the dining room wall. I had taken our cordless drill and drilled holes through what I thought were the metal studs in the wall, and I had two large screw hooks that I was hand-turning into the holes. As I was screwing in the second one, I heard a loud snap, and assumed that I had pushed the hook through the other side of the stud. The mirror was hung and I’m sure I thought that I had done a great job.
The next morning, I went on the patio to use the dryer to finish a load of laundry. Try as I did, I could not get the dryer to run. After checking to make sure the plug was not loose, I went to the circuit breaker box in the kitchen to see if I had tripped the circuit. As I opened the box, I saw that the switch was indeed tripped. When I flipped it back, smoke and sparks shot out of the breaker box, almost starting a fire. I immediately called the maintenance man, who, after fixing the problem, told me that I was lucky to be alive. You see, in my ignorance and bravado, I had screwed the hook straight into the back of the circuit box and into wiring. Although I had screwed in the hook by hand, I was not electrocuted; still, a deep piece of that metal hook was blown out by the electric current. Today the hook hangs in the garage, a reminder of God’s protection, grace, and love.
What’s your "hook"? Can you remember a time when God supernaturally protected you from something–or someone? That time may be more than just an incident; it could be an entire period of life when we were living and doing things in such a way that we really should have expected some serious consequences. For many people, that time is "B.C."–Before Christ. But I also know that I can look back at my life since accepting Jesus as my Savior, and be just as amazed at how His providence has protected and redeemed me, even to this very day.
A little more than three thousand years ago, a teenaged shepherd named David entered boldly into battle against the Philistine champion, a nine-foot giant named Goliath. As the entire Israelite army, including King Saul and David’s older brothers, stood trembling at the sight of Goliath and listening to his threats and blasphemous taunts, David slung a river rock into Goliath’s forehead, and then proceeded to cut Goliath’s head off with the giant’s own sword. Because of his brave deeds, David became known and loved throughout the land–except by King Saul.
Even though Saul was God’s anointed, he had turned away from the following the Lord. Saul’s alienation from God also spawned a murderous hatred for David. Not once, not twice, but for months, Saul pursued David, throwing spears at him in the palace court, sending men to kill David in his own bed, and eventually driving him into the wilderness mountains, chasing him with an entire army. Saul never overtook David, and yet David found himself on two occasions in the position of being able to take Saul’s life if he wanted to. Though David spared Saul, Saul would not spare himself. He took his own life in a tragic response to his hopelessness and helplessness.
The book of Psalms is much like a journal of David’s thoughts and prayers throughout his lifetime. In addition to psalms that praise and worship God, we also read over and over how David cried out to the Lord for protection and deliverance from his enemies. David knew that his strength and help came only from the Lord, as he proclaimed in Psalm 18:1-3:
"I will love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies."
Yet as we look at David’s life, we can also see that one of David’s worst enemies was his own human nature. There were times when David struggled with sin, condemnation, depression, and despondency–so much so that he often referred to himself as in a "pit," afflicted and in anguish to the point where he felt close to death. He knew that his only hope and help was the Lord, the One Who made him and loved him.
"Do not withhold Your tender mercies from me, O Lord; let Your lovingkindness and Your truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have surrounded me; my iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!" (Psalm 40:11-13)
God was faithful to deliver, forgive and restore David, but David still had one problem: He did not have the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That’s why he pleads for God not to take the anointing of the Holy Spirit from Him after he falls into sin with Bathsheba (Psalm 51:11). David’s relationship with God was under the covenant of the law, and he knew that his own sinfulness could keep him out of God’s presence and protection.
This is where the sacrifice of Christ is brought into brilliant perspective! Where David had doubt, we have assurance that there is nothing in heaven or on earth that can permanently defeat us and keep us from God because He dwells in us. I John 4:4 states, "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." Once we are a part of God’s kingdom, we are by His grace given a position of permanent victory because of Jesus’s death on the cross. Not only are we saved from sin, but from the powers of the enemy who would defeat us here on earth. Yes, we will still physically die, but our times are in His hand (Ps. 31:14-15). It’s the fear of death that is banished forever in the Light of life–in Christ. Read Romans 8:31-39, as Paul explains why we have hope:
"What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Jesus not only loves us, but he knows every problem that we’ll ever have to face. That’s why He told us in John 16:33, "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." When we’re faced with trials and torments bigger than we, we need to remember where to go to find help: to the only One who can.
"I will lift up my eyes to the hills–from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He Who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore." (Psalm 121)