The Shield Of Faith - Armor of God

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” (Ephesians 6:16, ESV)

I started getting serious about golf in high school. Since we weren’t members of the local country club, if I wanted to play and practice, I needed to get a job at the club. A few afternoons a week I’d drive the range picker back and forth collecting balls, load them in the ball cleaner and then fill the shelves with clean range balls. It wasn’t a real challenging job, but there were a couple of things that could make it hard. One was people taking shots at me. Literally, they would wait until I drove close to the tees and then they’d take dead aim at my range cart. Even though the ball couldn’t penetrate the cage, it was annoyingly loud and often caught me off guard.

Like that cage, the next piece of armor protects God’s people when they’re shot at. Paul says, “take up the shield of faith.” It’s our protection from Satan’s “flaming darts.” Paul has in mind the Roman soldier’s shield, which was large enough (2.5 feet by 4 feet according to Polybius) for a soldier to be completely protected from the enemy’s arrows. But they had to “take up” the shield. If it wasn’t in position, it couldn’t protect them.

The shield Paul exhorts believers to “take up” is the “shield of faith,” which is an unswerving confidence in the goodness of God. Since Eden, Satan has been firing arrows that aim to shatter our confidence in God’s goodness. Whenever we go through difficulties and tough seasons, he rapidly fires arrows of doubt. Doubt that God is in control, doubt that God loves us, doubt that God’s Word is life-giving, doubt that God can work this out for good, doubt that suffering has redemptive value, on and on the arrows come. The only sure protection is an unswerving confidence in the goodness of God. And we can be sure that God is good! The evidence is in his grand plan.

According to Ephesians, God’s grand plan is “to unite all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” (1:10). To pull it off he “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (1:3), he chose us (1:4), he adopted us (1:5), he redeemed us and forgave us (1:7). He did this out of the riches of his grace, “which he lavished upon us” (1:8). This is not the language of a little goodness. This is rich, lavish, opulent, over-the-top, off-the-hook, goodness! This is goodness we can count on and delight in!

It takes time, and often hindsight, for our trust in God’s goodness to grow into a full-sized shield of protection. As I look back, I think what bothered me most about driving the range job was an arrow of doubt. I was jealous that I had to work while the other junior golfers got to play for free because their parents were members of the club. In effect, I doubted the goodness of God and allowed arrows of doubt (jealously) to penetrate my heart. It’d be nice to go back and tell my 16-year-old self that having to work was a gift from our good God, but I doubt I’d listen. I’m pretty sure my parents said as much at the time. Maybe you’re a bit like me, time and hindsight are going to be necessary on the journey to a shield-sized faith in God’s goodness. No worries, God is patient and merciful and good. No doubt He’ll work it out. May this be our prayer today:

May this be our prayer today:
“Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” (Eph. 6:16)

Lord, I pray that you help me to have an unswerving trust in your goodness, sovereignty, and faithfulness. Remove all doubts I might have today or in the future about your commitment to the good of your people and the fulfillment of your promises. May my trust in you always be greater than my fear of anything else. In Jesus’ name, amen.