God's Protection

      My friend shares the story about a time when he and his wife were away from their small farm and arrived back to their home after dark.  Knowing they had an expectant cow in the pasture, went to check on her.  They discovered she had delivered her little calf before they arrived out in the field.  

PROTECTED!

What was significant was how their llamas and livestock guardian dog were protecting her and her new born.  Even as they moved the momma and calf to the barn for safety, the llamas and dog came along to make sure everything was done properly!

The protection the llamas and dog gave the cow and calf are an interesting parallel to how God watches over us. Sometimes it is due to a physical peril, but also emotional and even spiritual protection!

SATAN IS ON THE PROWL

Satan and his minions are all around us, creating havoc in so many different ways.  He whispers to us about our fears of the unknown, so that we become afraid to even move forward.  His tactics leave us feeling vulnerable, exposed and unprotected; and even turns the heat up on loneliness!  

His spiritual attacks create doubt, temptations and even discouragement to the point of giving up, as he tries to convince us we are in this current trial alone.  He presses the buttons of ‘I need an answer now’, so we become impatient and struggle to trust God’s timing.  And in all these ways cause us to forget God’s promises!

INTO THE FIERY FURNACE

I love the story of Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego.  I can’t imagine how much strength it took for the three of them to allow themselves to be thrown into the fiery furnace because they refused to bow down to the king.  They even said (paraphrase) they may die or they may be protected by the God they served, and either way it would be fine.  What a witness!  And they came out of that fire without even smelling like smoke, and not an inkling of singe anywhere!

There are many things we, as humans, try to do on our own.  But we are incapable.  We don’t have super powers and we can’t see the future.  Neither do we   have the ability to work out stuff for other people the way we think things should be and often our minds don’t even have the capacity to work things out the way we want for ourselves!

WE CAN'T DO IT OURSELVES

Even when we realize something can’t happen by us storming in frustration, worry and brainstorming, we often just over stress and make ourselves and everyone around us miserable.  We become afraid, make bad choices, get angry, and shift blame.  We forget we have an alternative!

When unexpected challenges pour down on us, the best thing we can do is take it to a God who can! God’s protection can hold us steady when things seem murky and the the waves are battering us.  He is greater than any enemy we could ever encounter; greater than the fiery furnace; the lion’s den filled with lions, the wind and waves, even death!

REMEMBER GOD'S PROMISES

God promises to never leave us or forsake us; and his timing is always perfect!  It’s hard to be patient and allow God to work things out—even when we know it’ll be for our good.  We live in a ‘now’ culture, but that’s not God! 

When we remember —and believe in faith—that God is always with us, regardless of what we are going through, we can believe His strength will pull us through.  He will provide the calm, peace and reassurance we need, if we allow ourselves to ‘Be still and know that HE is an all powerful God’!

Photo Credit: Newborn Calf/?pagi=8