2024-07-19 “his truth shall be thy shield and buckler”

Psalm 91:3  “Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.  4  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

The Lord’s “truth” refers to His absolutely perfect reliability; He is always true to His will, true to His Promises, true to His Word, true in His loving-kindness, true in His mercy and grace, and true in His care for His people.  The knowledge of His “truth” is to us as a “shield and buckler”.  The “shield and buckler” were devices that soldiers carried into battle, they held them up to deflect the enemies blows with swords, clubs, hatchets, arrows, and spears.  Soldiers and law enforcement officers now wear vests to help shield their bodies from attacks.  But, our perfect and absolutely reliable defense against all calamity, trial, trouble, tribulation, etc. is knowing that our Lord is perfectly reliable to deliver us from “them all”!  Paul wrote of his “Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto” him “at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra”, and exclaimed, “what persecutions I endured”!  He endured many great sufferings; “but out of them all the Lord delivered” him (II Timothy 3:11).  Our beloved Lord Jesus Christ puts it this way, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)!  So, no matter what our present trouble is, we can joyfully and confidently declare, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills [IE. The Sovereign Power Of Our Loving Heavenly Father], from whence cometh my help.” (Psalms 121:1)!  No matter how severe our trials may be, we make it through them “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)!  Therefore, when our “fiery trial” (I Peter 4:12) is devastatingly hot and miserable, let us “stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13)!