“Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.” [1]
The devil had just come from roaming the earth. [2] He had been afflicting people everywhere he went. He complained because God had put a hedge of protection around and blessed Job. This is what God does! He protects and blesses His own. He is the good Shepherd.
“This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them.” [3]
We need God’s angels to encircle us. To protect us from sudden attack and to deliver us!
“They [the locusts with scorpion stingers) were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.” [4]
The truth that God protects His own against evil is seen throughout the Bible.
“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” [5]
We people tend to be gamblers. We see others dying and suffering harm but bet that it will not happen to us. We continue to live as though we don’t need the Good Shepherd. All the while, He watches on, ready to help. Our choices reveal our loyalties. If we want the Holy God to be with us, to protect us and to bless us, we need to ask Him to forgive our sins and help us to repent (change our thinking) about Him. We need to embrace Christ and all that He has done for us… coming into the world as a baby… living among us… healing our people… dying on the cross for our sins… rising from the dead for our victory over sin, death, and the devil. Yes, relationship is a two-way street. If we want the Lord to be our Good Shepherd, we must ask, confess, and proclaim Him to be our good Shepherd. Ask Him to intervene; to protect us from the evil one. Jesus taught us to pray, “Keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil.” [6]
“Thank You Jesus for being a Good Shepherd to whosoever is Your sheep.”
[1] Job 1:9-10
[2] Job 1:7
[3] Psalm 34:6-7
[4] Revelation 9:4
[5] Revelation 9:20-21
[6] Matthew 6:13
Bearing witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus!
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