SHIELDS of GOD!

SHIELDS of GOD!

“For the shields* of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted!”

-Psalm 47:9b

The HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible) translates the Hebrew word מָגֵן (maw-gen), which literally means “shield,” as “leaders.” Several other translations use words like kings, dominions, rulers, and even “strong gods” (Douay-Rheims Bible).

If you begin with the literal word, shields, you can then see how various translations arrived at their nuanced interpretation. When I read “shields of the earth,” it immediately caused me to recall Psalm 3:3, “But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, My glory, and the lifter of my head.” Thank you Jesus!

As a superhero fanatic, when I think of the word “shield,” the image that comes to my mind is Captain America. “Cap” is a man of selfless integrity, grit, and honor. Steve Rogers was transformed into a protector, defender, and strong leader. As much as I love “Cap,” the truth is that none of us begin there. Cap is a fictional ideal, a fantastic and novel creation, which doesn’t exist.

The Bible confirms that assessment. Psalm 51:5 states, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”

None of us begin as spotless, altruistic, benevolent, honorable people. My little boy is my joy and treasure, but he’s hopelessly trapped in sin, and was before he breathed his first breath. That’s why we “train him up in the way he should go” (Pr 22:6). There is no “super-soldier serum” that exists in the natural realm to transform scrawny, pathetic, impotent, -dead- humans into superheroes. But God...

In Ephesians 2:1, God fills us in regarding our natural condition in saying, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…” Sins aren’t merely the bad things we do in life. Sin is the nature of our character, our home, our hardwired DNA from before conception. Sins (pl.) are merely the default and exclusive expression of that undeniable, unavoidable, unquenchable nature. No amount of self-help, meditation, reflection, “good” works, or prayer can alter that harsh reality. But God...

The tail end of Romans 14:23 states, “...and everything that is not from faith is sin.” Apart from faith in Christ, which is an external gift -NOT an internal achievement of intellectual or spiritual ascent (whatever that means)- the origins and destination of every thought, every action, everything... is sin. But God…

“As for you, you were dead…” Then Ephesians 2:4-5 swoops in! “But God… made us alive together with Christ-”

Jesus Christ is the ideal that Jack Kirby and Joe Simon were unwittingly striving for, and heralding, when they created Captain America. There is no super-soldier serum, and even if there was... the formula was lost. Even if it existed outside the realm of comics, it doesn’t do anything to actually change the nature of the candidate.

Bill Cosby once said to a guy, "Tell me, what is it about cocaine that makes it so wonderful?" The guy replied, "Because it intensifies your personality." Bill said, "Yes, but what if you're an *explicative*?"

Faith in Christ is the ideal, the divine superlative - of which there can be nothing greater. That is who and what God created us to be. "Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule...'"

Through faith in Christ, we are brought from death to life. We are transformed into something supernatural - into that which God intended for us before Eden’s rebellion. Yet many of us have settled for superficial religion and cultural Christianity rather than God’s supernatural super-soldier formula; a formula of faith that literally rewrites our DNA and makes us NEW CREATIONS in Christ!

As those new creations (2 Cor 5:17), we truly and actually become that which Psalm 47:9 speaks of… “For the shields (kings, rulers, leaders) of the earth belong to God; He is greatly exalted!”

Therefore, as God’s shield here on earth, what are you going to do with that privilege and power? Will today merely be “You know... same ol’ same ol’” or will today be the beginning of your adventure in Christ?

Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these…”

That’s why Captain America probably walks around wearing a t-shirt with you on it! :)

If you don’t have faith in Jesus, ask. In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says it’s that simple. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened unto you.”

Thanks for reading, liking, and sharing!

Blessings!

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com