Target Practice

“He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler”.  Psalm 91:4

The unidentified Psalmist who wrote Psalm 91 pictured God as having feathers and wings like a big mama bird who will do whatever is necessary to protect her babies.  This is a metaphor, of course, using nature to describe the care and concern that God has for His children.  Any mother “worth her salt” or any father for that matter, whether human or animal, will risk his or her own life to keep their children from harm.  Jesus used a similar metaphor when He lamented the rejection of His own countrymen as He looked out over the city of Jerusalem.  He said, “…how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not” (Matthew 23:37).  The difference between the response of the people of Jerusalem and the response of the baby chicks is that the baby chicks knew where their protection and hope of survival lay.  God’s care and protection were readily available to the people of Israel, but the majority chose to go their own way.

The Psalmist also compared God’s truth to a shield and a buckler.  Of course, we know that a shield is a thick piece of metal held by those who fought with swords to protect their bodies1218.  Police swat teams hold shields to protect themselves when they have to storm a dangerous situation.  Bulletproof vests are also a type of shield that policemen and soldiers wear as protective devices.  In some areas of the nation, the badge that a policeman wears is called a shield.  It can’t protect against a bullet, but it represents the backing and the authority of the entire municipality in which the peace officer patrols.  A buckler is also a type of shield that is smaller and held by the hand or worn on the arm, or it can refer to anything that protects be it a person or a device of some kind.  Just like a metal shield protects the physical body from the attacks of the enemy, God’s truth, as found in His word, the shield of faith, protects a person’s soul and spirit from the fiery darts of the wicked (Ephesians 6:16).  And believe me, Satan has a vast supply of ammunition in his arsenal.

Christian persecution is not some new phenomenon that appeared in the 20th century, but has been around for over 2,000 years, ever since Jesus began His ministry on earth.  We know that Paul, formerly known as Saul, was an ardent persecutor of those who became believers in Christ, until that great day when Christ met him on the road to Damascus and changed his life.  But even before that, the Pharisees and other religious leaders hounded Jesus constantly and were responsible for initiating His crucifixion.  We know that it was all of our sins that caused Him to voluntarily make the final sacrifice to bring salvation, so I guess, in a way, our sins persecuted Jesus.  Brave men like Martin Luther who challenged the church in his day for its erroneous teaching regarding salvation, John Wycliffe who translated the scriptures into English, which was opposed by the church, and William Tyndale, who carried on the work of Wycliffe and was able to publish the scriptures in English, were all persecuted for their efforts in presenting the truth of scriptures to the world.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer was imprisoned, sent to a concentration camp, and hanged for opposing Hitler, and his extermination of Jews in Germany during the 1940’s.  A few years ago, we were told of the beheading of Christians by ISIS in the middle east for refusing to deny Christ.  The list goes on and on.

There is no telling of the likely thousands of people who have been martyred for believing and following Christ.  It still goes on today.  In our nation, Christian persecution has been rather subtle until a few years ago when those who hate God have become bolder in their attempts to rid our nation of God and of everything that is godly, and some of their antics have been supported by our government.  So where does this put believers in the overall scheme of things?  If we are truly born again and are living as Christ desires us to as His representatives on earth, then we have a target on our backs.  The target is not the usual red circle with a big red dot in the middle but is more like the shape of the cross of calvary which represents the sacrifice that Christ made to provide salvation for all who would repent of sin and believe in Him.  Lost people don’t like to admit that they are sinners.  When they see a truly born-again believer whose status as a child of the King is evident, some mock, some ignore, or some turn up their noses at the believer as though he or she is some unsophisticated nobody who uses Christianity as a crutch.  They use believers as target practice, but their ultimate target is the Lord.  However, He has already taken their ire, and they can’t hurt Him anymore.  He absorbed the wrath of the ungodly for believers as well, thus He is our Shield and Buckler.