January 22nd

But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. Psalm 3:3

We protect what is valuable to us and so does God. We shield those who we love, and we care for them. We give blessing and honor to that which we value often daily. God does the same for us except that He blesses and honors us every second of our lives. We protect and defend what is precious to us to the point of sacrificing parts of our lives. Jesus went farther than that and sacrificed all His life. He bestows His glory upon us because we are made in His image.

God wants us to have a deeper awareness of how He protects us and values us, because if He lifted His protection for one second, the evil one would take us out. A sense of protection is very essential in dealing with the emotion of fear. Obviously, when we are protected, we feel safer and less fearful. God wants us to have this awareness in our minds and heart every day.

The problem is that fear lies to us and casts us down where we cannot see what is there. When we fear, we are concentrating on the immediate circumstances and not what our destiny or future will be. Fear does this to control us and manipulate us into sinful patterns.

God, on the other hand, lifts our head so that we can keep our eyes on the Lord and not be overwhelmed by the circumstances. When God reveals Himself, He reveals our glorious identity and future as part of God’s forever family.