THE SHIELD OF FAITH

Recently I have been strongly impressed to read and reread Ephesians 6:10-20. This is Paul’s famous teaching on putting on the armor of God and there are a couple of key thoughts that I want to draw out for you.

Over and over in the passage we are exhorted to “stand.” The foundation of a building is firmly set in place; it is fixed and is not going to be moved. Paul is telling us to be immovable like that. In verse 13, the Greek word that is used for “withstand” is the word from which we derive the word “antihistamine.” This suggests a vigorous opposing, to put a block on something, standing face to face with your adversary and not giving any ground. Or as the crazy man in the movie “Network” yelled out the window, “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

We are told to put on the armor of God and that takes conscious action on our part. We need to be in transparent relation with the Lord through our communication with Him and the pattern of how we live our lives. When we are in clear communication with Him and living in a manner that is pleasing Him, then we are putting on His armor and it is protecting us. By the way, putting on the armor is a one-time act and from then on we make sure it is in place. None of this silliness about “daily putting on the armor.” So what happens to it that you have to put it on daily—does it fall off when you sleep? Is the armor of God so fragile that it falls off when you least expect it? I think not!

“…Taking up the shield of faith” (v.16). Again, this is something we do. We do this by our confidence in Him and our declaration of that confidence in prayer. My wife and I often pray this way, “Lord, we raise up the shield of faith over and around our family, the shield of faith that quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Now let me help you understand what Paul was saying when he uttered these words about the shield of faith.

What Paul had in mind was very much like the shield that a Roman soldier carried. It was about four-and-a-half feet long and about two feet wide. The Romans introduced a strategy into warfare that, at its time, revolutionized how warfare was done. A Roman company of about 150 men, each of them carrying a sword and shield, would go into battle in a tight rectangle formation. When they came under attack, they would each put their shields into place, some to the sides, some to the front, some to the back and some over their heads. The company became a solid block covered on all sides and over the top and they would move forward or backward in unison. The shields were covered in leather and before the Romans went into a fight, they would soak their shields in water so that when the enemy shot fiery arrows at them, the wet leather would not burn. When the Romans introduced this kind of tactic to their armies, it revolutionized warfare. They called this rectangle a “tortoise” (turtle). They weren’t fast but they got the job done and devastated the enemy.

In times of stress, when we feel like we are being attacked, we are to take up the shield of faith and know that the fiery darts of the enemy are being extinguished. It may not always look like it but the victory is ours.

More about the shield in the next post.