God's Shields

‘* The shields of the earth belong unto God.’’ — Psatm xlvii. 9:

y AND God supplies these shields to His children. The shields are in His armoury, and )they are at the disposal of any soul

which’ sends forth a prayerful cry of need. There are subtle enemies on the road. They lie in ambush. They take us unawares. They are especially vigilant in the season when we are most easily attacked. They watch for the unguarded moments when we stand at ease. They follow us into the times when we are on furlough, when we have laid aside some defensive duty, or when we have left the sanative ministry of common toil. And they are maliciously watchful in those

—sar s days when the air is soft, and genial, and balmy, and there is nothing to|remind us that any hostile presence may ever lurk beside our road. And so we have constant need of the shields of God.

And here is one of them — a healthy sense of the hideousness of sin. That is one of the greatest shields of the soul. Cardinal Newman wrote, in one of his devotional letters, ““It is a great security against sin to be shocked at it.’’ The body finds a protective in its repulsion: from putrid and nauseous food. Our moral recoils are splendid securities. The patriarch Job laid his hand on one of his defences when he said, “‘ Cannot my palate discern perverse things?” So long as the palate retains this power of discrimination, and loathes the unclean, its very loathing is part of the armament which will safeguard it along the foulest road. Our moral repulsion is one of the shields of God.

, And Here is another — a healthy sense of the beauty of holiness. This sense is a correlative of the former. They may even be regarded as the two sides of the same shield. It is our likes which determine our dislikes. Our attractions always suggest our repulsions. It is a mighty defence for the soul to have a passionate love of the lovely, to go along the road eager for every sign of the King’s Presence, and to love His appearing. There is a very significant line in the portrayal of the character of Barnabas, which tells us that ‘“‘ when he saw the grace of God he was glad.” When our emotions kindle at the sight of the things of grace we have a piece of splendid armour. It is one of the shields of God., And Here is a third — the assurance that God loves us. What a defence is that on the road! It gives birth to songs in the night! And then our very songs add still more to - our defences. “Thou hast compassed me about with songs of deliverance.” The joy of the Lord shall be your strength: ra All these are typical shields, and we are not left to construct them in the dim light of our own ignorance. These shields belong unto God, and they are the gifts of His grace.