As For God...

“As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him.” Psalm 18:30

A friend stopped by the church today to work on some remodeling we are doing in the fellowship hall. He needed to access the crawlspace under our building and was looking for the key. A few days earlier he stopped by, looking for the key to the storage shed as well. It was not in our key “box” where we keep them as neat and labeled as possible. I called out to him, “Rodney, that key is on my desk.”

Today, when he asked me about the key to the crawlspace, I jokingly said, “No, I only keep one key at a time on my desk.” After several moments I went into the next office where he was fumbling through the keys in our box. We knew he was looking for key “# 5”. There was no 5 to be found. After a few more minute I said, “Let me just check my desk.”

There it was, on the corner half hidden under my tape dispenser. I took the key to Rodney and said, “I lied. It was on my desk!” He joked that I was the first pastor he knew who had ever lied. I said, “Or who admitted it, at least.” He responded, “I guess that makes you the most honest pastor I’ve known.”

Whether through purposeful deception or memory gaps, our words are not always 100 percent reliable. We may even relay facts, but disguise them in a way that helps our cause the most. God is after truth, which is much greater than mere recitation of accurate facts. The truth will always contain factual accuracy, but it is also portrayed as closely as possible in the proper context, and never used to deceive. One might say, “Ted’s car is parked in front of the bar every night of the week.” The fact may be true, but, we may be using it to make someone assume a certain truth: “Ted is a drinker”. Instead, the truth is that Ted lives in an apartment above the bar, and can only park in the street.

God’s ways are perfect. Yes, the “facts” are accurate, but more importantly, His ways and His word are reliable. We never have to investigate out of fear He has misled us. Our Father God has a way for us to follow that is without defect, deception or error. There are no false turns or dead ends. His path for each of us is perfect because His knowledge is perfect. He knows me intimately and knows how to flawlessly guide me on His straight paths. Knowing how true He is, I can put my faith in His ultimate plan for my life.

The Lord’s word is flawless. God speaks and things happen. He created the entire universe by simple declaration. He calls things into existence that never existed previously. Simply by His word, Jesus healed the young boy of a Roman official. The boy, 20 miles away in Capernaum was fever-free at the very time Jesus told the father, “Go, your son is well.” Not one word from the Lord is ever wasted. His words are the sweetest poetry, the most intriguing story, the most enriching instruction and the greatest love letter of all time.

He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. As nations amp up their war power, devising weapon after weapon to “defend” their interests, the world itself becomes more dangerous. Weapons meant to defend leave destruction in their paths. Armies raised for “just” causes become machines of antagonism in the hands of despots. We face not only physical harm but psychical and emotional as well. Families break up, friends accuse, businesses cheat to get ahead and well-meaning people sometimes are left like refuge on a beach after the tide recedes.

But the Lord is a shield. He protects his own in the middle of the ugly results of self-seeking. We can face a challenging world with courage, as David did against the giant Goliath, because we do not trust in our abilities or prowess, but in the Lord Himself. We can lay down our defenses, as Jesus did on the way to the cross, and honor God by entrusting Him with the outcome of our lives. His “shield is sure and his protection secure. The secret of satisfaction is ridding ourselves of all defensiveness, allowing only the shield of the Lord for protection. How free we become when we no longer need to answer every objection, explain every action, but, trusting Him, we move forward loving the world as Jesus instructed.

Our world is marred beauty. We speak with tainted exaggerations and the defenses we stockpile serve only to create greater danger. To trust in God is to enjoy the perfection of His beauty, the truth of His words and the security He provides for those who learn to place their trust in the goodness of the Lord.