January 30, 2001
One of the main purposes of these glimpses is to help me deepen my understanding God's protective nature... God has been very faithful in revealing new insights into a topic I thought I had studied pretty thoroughly!! As I read in Isaiah 29:3 which is part of the prophecy against Israel, God promises that he will encamp against his own people for the first time in their history. The Israelites had seen God encamp against their enemies, they had seen the destruction and this though or knowledge terrified them. Perhaps also it did for them what it did for me.. it made me stop and think about how it must have felt to have known and felt God's protection all their lives and their history... David reminds us...
"The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him." Psalm 34:7
In all their history they had only known God's protection and had taken it for granted; they lost sight of how special it was! The prophecies against them were designed to be a wake-up call. This caused me to stop and look at God's protective nature some more, too look at this idea of God being encamped around his people and how he protects me through that.
My study led me to Zechariah 9:8
"But I will defend my house against marauding forces.
Never again will an oppressor overrun my people for now I am keeping watch"
God has promised that NEVER AGAIN will he allow his people to be devastated or wiped out by an enemy. This is a PROMISE from God and he is always faithful to his promises. This is not a promise that we will not endure hardship or struggle, those we know are allowed by God to strengthen and test our faith, to mature us and help us get to heaven (James 1). His promise in this is, that he will not allow us to undergo more than we can handle (1 Cor 10:13). In looking at this verse in Zechariah I read chapters 9 -10 to get an understanding of how God keeps watch... stands guard... protects his people. The verses in Zechariah 9:9 - 10:12 are a wealth of information regarding God's heart! The rest of the passage is a prophecy about The Messiah - Jesus... this is how God watches over his people. As you read through the verses you see that the Messiah's reign would bring peace, that he will conquer our enemy (Satan) which we know he did by dying on the cross (Col 2:15). This is the ULTIMATE protection. Jesus has defeated Satan and we are allowed to have a relationship with a loving Father, who watches over us with a tenderness and care beyond what I can comprehend most of the time.
In Zechariah 9 verses 14 through the end of chapter 10 he outlines how he will care for Judah, which refers both to the people at that time but it is also a prophecy about how he will care for his people during Jesus reign - that's now & that's us!
He says "they will be" but we can confidently translate that into statements that reflect how God sees us today...
"I will strengthen them in the Lord and in his name they will walk, declares the Lord." Zechariah 10:12
God is our protector and defender today. I lose sight of this because I want that to mean that I will never suffer painful things, even though I know better. God's protection is real, its a promise and its perfect, My day to day struggles are orchestrated by a loving Father who does actively protect me.