Reflect on the following:

When do you feel at your weakest and most vulnerable? Perhaps it’s when you’re experiencing financial insecurity or if a relationship isn’t going the way you hoped. Perhaps you feel weakest when you’re faced with uncertainty whether it’s uncertainty about your children, about your health, or about your future. Perhaps the everyday demands of life simply leave you exhausted and unsure how you will muster the energy to face another day.

When the world seems to be throwing more at you then you can handle it is natural to feel weak, insecure or under attack. Yet, in our weakness we can discover something beautiful. As the ancient King of Israel, David, declares during his own experience of vulnerability:

“The Lord is my strength and my shield” Psalm 28:7

The LORD, that is the God who is compassionate and all knowing and all powerful, is my strength and shield. The God, who sent his son Jesus to die for my sins to bring me forgiveness and new life, is my strength and shield. When what is coming at me is bigger and stronger than me, God is my strength and my shield. That doesn’t mean I won’t get hit or get hurt. We see from King David’s life and Jesus’ life and the Apostle Paul’s life that trusting in God doesn’t guarantee physical safety and comfort. What it does mean is that whatever is coming at me God’s got it. It also means that I am safe from the most horrifying and dangerous thing of all - God’s punishment for my rebellion against Him.

It is before God in our sin that we are truly at our weakest and most vulnerable. But… Jesus died to pay the price of our sins and bring us back under God’s protection. Through trusting Jesus we are protected, not merely from the perils of the world, but the punishment of God due us for our sin. Do you know the strength and protection of trusting Jesus Christ? However weak or tired or attacked you are, whatever the world throws at you, you can be safe in Jesus Christ.

PRAYER: Dear God, I trust that I am safe from punishment from you through Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection. Thank you. I want you to be my strength and shield come what may in this world. When I feel weak or under attack please help me to depend on you. Amen.