Snowball fights are intense – or at least they used to be – and painful too, unless you had a good snow fort to hide behind. It was never a comfortable feeling when you were being pelted with carefully crafted, perfectly round and hardened snowballs made from wet snow.But paintballing ratchets the risk up a notch. Perhaps you haven’t had a painful experience paintballing. Here’s some advice for beginners: wear more than a flimsy summer shirt. If you have to wear eye glasses inside your protective goggles, make sure you have them coated with de-fogger spray and that it’s not a hot and humid day. Glasses tend to steam up and greatly impair your vision. Also, make sure you are not color-blind. Looking through steamed up lens, trying to distinguish the colors of your friends from your opponents is challenging, especially if you are color blind. One final piece of advice is – make sure the trees in your area are more than tender saplings. You will want vastly huge tree trunks to hide behind. Without taking the above precautions, you will feel somewhat vulnerable, exposed and experience pain in various places.
King David frequently had times in his life when the things flying through the air were not snowballs or plastic, paint-filled balls used for games. He escaped air-born daggers and perhaps arrows that were intended – not to maim him but rather kill him. At times the sky was charged with hatred and jealousy towards him. Vicious words, heart-wrenching betrayals and violent threats, like deadly missiles were launched against him.
With those experiences behind him, David wrote these words:
“This God – His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord proves true;
He is a shield for all those who take refuge in Him.“
Psalm 18:30
A sturdy snow fort to shield you from pounding snowballs. A hefty, obese, tough, old tree to crouch behind when paintballing becomes fierce. But dear child of God, when the arrows of the enemy are flying in your direction and the deadly missiles of life are targeting you – what do you have for cover? Are you just trying to be strong and resilient, drawing from your inner character and family genes that equipped you with a stiff upper lip?
How are you coping with the war today? The battle at times is fierce and brutal. Are you just trying to bite your lip and with sheer determination plow your way through? Or have you found a safe shelter? David could reflect on the incredible peace that comes from knowing you are hiding behind a safe, impenetrable shield that will never melt or split in two in a lightning storm or rot away from some fungus or bug.
God – He is a shield, whether people take refuge in Him or not. Some will use their own self defenses and not take shelter behind Him or even IN Him. That’s their choice. What’s yours? How are you going to weather this crisis?
Get alone with God today. If you are emotionally stretched to the breaking point, just get behind His shield right now; crash and collapse in His Presence. You will be safe. He is a shield. He will equip you and shelter you at the same time. Too often we try to deal with life’s battles on our own strength. Appreciate today, dear child of God, that God is your strength; God is your shield. God is your help. “God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1
Walk carefully and closely with the Lord today.
Warmly in Christ
Peter Ramsay