I love the Psalms, one that I am often reminded of is Psalm 28:7-8 where Jesus speaks of God being his shield…
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song. The LORD is the strength of His people, a fortress of salvation for His anointed one.
As I have been reflecting on The Armour of God, which Paul implores us to put on in Ephesians 6:10-18, the shield of Faith has captured my attention and I have paused to reflect on this interesting piece of armour.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
The shields used by the Roman army resembled a door, they were approximately 2 feet wide and 4 feet high and were made of wood and covered in canvas and then leather. They were often soaked in water in order that they may literally extinguish the flaming arrows that the enemy would shoot toward them. Arrows that were dipped in tar and set alight.
Upon listening to the account of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17, there were a few things that stood out for me in light of these thoughts.
- Goliath had a shield bearer
His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. his shield bearer went ahead of him
1 Samuel 17:7
David too had a shield bearer, The Living God who He worshipped and declared as his shield repeatedly in the Psalms. (See Psalms 28;7; 18:2; 33:20; 84:11; 115:9; 89:18; 3:3)
2. David was just an ordinary shepherd boy. People had no regard for him, even his father didn’t recognise him as important enough to include when Samuel asked him to call for his sons. He wasn’t given a position because of who he was or who he knew. He was an unlikely young man but with a heart after God and God used Him mightily because he stepped out in faith. Sometimes we wait to be called or recognised, but God is waiting for us to step out of the boat.
As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?” Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
1 Samuel 17:55
3. He was obedient and responsible. His father sent him to the battle lines to take supplies to his brothers and he did so, but before going, he ensured that someone took over his duties to guard the sheep.
4. David had an accuser… His brother Eliab called him conceited and wicked. He questioned David’s motives and undermined him.
When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”
1 Samuel 17:28
This is exactly what the enemy does. These are the flaming arrows that the shield of faith quenches. This can only happen when we stay in God and allow Him to be our shield.
5. David was prepared. Even as he worked humbly and faithfully, God had prepared him by allowing him to fight the lion and the bear. We question God when we experience difficulties and challenges, often not realising that it prepares us for what is to come.
6. David didn’t think he was self made. He knew that it was God who delivered him from the lion and the bear and he gave God the glory.
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
1 Samuel 17:34-37
7. David didn’t try to be someone else. This is a trap that I often see people fall into. Instead of knowing our identity in Christ, we emulate someone else. Each of us has our own God given identity. We cannot put on someone else’s armour, it will only hinder us. David’s weapons were very different from what everyone else’s looked like, but his confidence in God was where his strength lay.
Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.
1 Samuel 17:38-39
8. He was undeterred by the threats and mocking of Goliath. How often do we allow the negative voices around us to stop us in our tracks. David had every reason to run. He was coming against a man who the entire army of Israel was afraid of, with their weaponry and training. All he has was a slingshot… or so the enemy thought. His invisible weapon was His God… His Shield of Faith!
He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
1 Samuel 17:43-44
9. David had a bold and audacious confidence. He went forward making declarations that were laughable. He even said that he would cut off Goliath’s head yet he didn’t even have a sword in his hand.
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”
1 Samuel 17:45-47
10. David demonstrated faith in action. He forged ahead.
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
1 Samuel 17:48-49
David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.
1 Samuel 17:51
May we, like David, always walk confidently in faith, knowing that God is our Shield.
I had the privilege of talking through this along with content from my previous article, “Where did I leave my shield?” with Malungi from Highway Radio, listen to our conversation here: