The Power of a Shield

By: Greg A. Lane

Several months ago, the owner of a local golf course invited me to take my daily morning walks out at his course before opening hours. I was more than happy to take him up on the offer. The course is nestled away in a cove area, at the foot of several adjoining mountains. The sunrises out there are absolutely beautiful. There are several stocked ponds surrounded by cattails on the property, making for some awesome photo opportunities, so I bring my camera along each morning to take nature shots. What an awesome way to start off each day: getting much-needed exercise, spending time in prayer, and taking in the beauty of God’s creation!

After a few days of walking along the trails, however, I discovered one minor irritation that prevented me from fully enjoying my time there. There were several places along the trail where I was being attacked by pesky gnats. One moment I’d be in prayer and meditation, walking along taking in the beauty of Mother Nature, and the next moment I’d be swatting and waving my hands frantically, trying to get rid of the irritating “dive-bombers.” All the benefits of a peaceful morning walk and prayer time were diminished by the aggravating pests. There were a few times when a gnat actually flew, to its death, directly into my eyeball. If you’ve lived in the South for any length of time, you’ve probably experienced this same thing, yourself.

One morning I had my worst battle with the pesky insects to date. I don’t think I walked more than 100 yards of my 2.5 mile journey without swatting at the irritants. I had killed more than a dozen of the gnats just by clapping my hands together in front of my face. I’m sure I was a sight to behold, walking along the path, clapping my hands in front of my face! To make matters worse, I actually smacked myself in the face a couple of times while swatting at them. How embarrassing! “How’d you get that bruise on your face?” “Um … I hit myself swatting at a gnat!”

I definitely wanted to continue taking my morning walk at the golf course, but I had to figure out a way to combat the gnat problem. So, I got on the internet that day and did some research to find out why gnats are drawn to our faces. I discovered that gnats are attracted to the lacrimal secretions from our eyes. To put it in simple terms … THEY FEED ON OUR TEARS! That’s why they will dive-bomb, like a kamikaze pilot, directly into our eyeballs. They’re trying to get a drink of precious tear juice!

Armed with this newfound information, I came up with a plan to conquer the gnat problem on my morning walk. I found a pair of safety glasses that were given to me several weeks earlier. The glasses were the rounded kind that conform to the curvature of a person’s face. So they fit nice and snugly around my face. I brought them with me the next day on my morning walk.

When I got to the place on the trail where the gnat problem was heaviest the day before, I pulled out my safety glasses and put them on. There were only a few small gaps between the glasses and my face. I was hoping the gnats wouldn’t be able to squeeze through those gaps to get to my eyes. With an air of confidence, I called out to the gnats, “Here I am. Give me your best shot.” I guess the gnats actually heard the challenge and accepted it, because about a half dozen gnats began an aerial attack. I could see them flying out in front of my face as I walked along. I could see them hitting the glasses as they tried to dive-bomb into my eyes. At first, I felt the need to swat at them, but then realized that was not necessary. They couldn’t penetrate through the “shield” that surrounded my eyes, so there was no need for me to even concern myself with their presence. I continued to walk along and pray, completely unhindered by the pesky varmints.

Several minutes later, realizing that my plan had succeeded, I was overcome with a feeling of victory over my tiny enemies. With a note of triumph in my voice, I proclaimed, “Yesterday I fought you with my sword, but today I brought my shield!” There have been times when I’ve said things like that just for fun … for my own personal amusement. But when I said those words that day, there was something spiritual about it. It was like those words, spoken in jest, were actually inspired by God.

You see, the Bible tells the Christian that they are supposed to “put on the whole armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11). Two important parts of that armor are the sword (which symbolizes the Word of God) and the shield (which symbolizes the Christian’s faith). For several weeks, I had been dealing with my tiny enemies with my own offensive maneuvers. My hand was the “sword” with which I fought my battle. But, until I brought my safety glasses along (my shield), I was still vulnerable to attack.

Now, let me put all this together into a spiritual context. We all face an enemy in life. The Bible calls this enemy “Satan” or “the devil.” We’ve been given both a sword and a shield with which to fight against this enemy. There are many who have memorized passages from the Bible and are able to effectively use the scriptures like a sword against the enemy. During the wilderness temptations of Jesus found in Luke chapter 4, we see our Lord Himself using the scriptures, wielding them like a sword, in His battle against Satan’s temptations. But, for the believer, there is just as much need for the protection that the shield of faith brings when we find ourselves in one of life’s battles. To use one without the other results in only partial victory. We must utilize both of these pieces of armor in our arsenal to be victorious when facing our enemy.

Just like those pesky gnats, our enemy feeds on our tears. He loves to bring pain and heartache into our lives. He longs to hear us cry in defeat. He loves to see teardrops falling from our eyes. They’re food for him. We can wave our sword, the Word of God, in an attempt to thwart his attacks. But, until we learn how to protect ourselves using our shield of faith, we can’t achieve ultimate victory. Yes, the sword of the Spirit is effective in battle … but let’s never underestimate the power in the shield of faith God has given us!

“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our FAITH.” - I John 5:4