Scripture

Do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you.

~Genesis 15:1, LSB

Quote

When we are waiting on God to bless us; we should stir up ourselves to bless Him.

~Matthew Henry

After these things, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision saying, “Do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you.” {Genesis 15:1} After these things refers back to chapter 14 and the war of the kings–four kings against five–fought in the Jordan valley.  The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah lost and were taken captive along with Lot, Abraham’s nephew. Abraham, with a small army of 318 men pursued the aggressors and carried out a night raid that was overwhelmingly successful. Abraham probably acted on behalf of his nephew but the five kings of the valley benefited. Their lives were spared and they got all their possessions back. Something about this ordeal must have upset Abraham. He had nothing in common with the five kings and he had to be a little aggravated at his nephew for getting involved with these pagans. Perhaps Abram’s anxiety came from the fact that the pagans out numbered the Hebrews a thousand to one.

Anyway, the LORD appeared to Abraham in a vision and said, “Do not be afraid Abraham, I will protect or shield you.” If you are like me, you don’t feel much like a warrior. David was a soldier and yet in Psalm 144 he feels vulnerable, weak and lacking in strength. As I was meditating on this Psalm, I had a thought: it is not the strength of the warrior as much as it is the strength of the fortress that he takes shelter in. A weak and wounded warrior would be safe in a mighty or invincible fortress. Jesus is our Shelter, Shield, our Rock and our Fortress. The devil can’t get to us because we are in HIM. He would have to destroy Christ Himself to destroy us. A mighty fortress is our Christ, a bulwark never failing; our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills {cancer} prevailing.

Extra

Fall is here and I am pleased. I don’t need heat or air in the office. Men, let me remind you of the prayer breakfast Saturday morning at 8:00. I bought the bacon last night and that stuff is higher than a cat’s back. We have a busy weekend coming up: Saturday prayer breakfast, Sunday Gideon presentation and Monday we host the Pastor’s conference.

I want you to pray for Charity Clark. To those of you that helped with the trip to Universal, it was a success but Charity is worn out and in some pain. Her liver is enlarged and pressing on her ribs. She is now in a hospital bed at home and they are trying to manage the pain. Pray for Charity and Josh. They have two boys.

I went to see Felton yesterday and I knew he was bad; he passed away later in the evening. Joe David attended a COLS in Athens yesterday and will be going to Whitwell, Tennessee for one today. Bobby Vest is getting to come home. I talked with Lisa yesterday and she has made the arrangement, if all goes as planned, Bobby will come home to Danville on October 17.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful fall day and thanks for reading the blog.