Our Defender

By: Joanne Viola

I may have asked the question more than a few times lately: “What if the Lord had not been on our side?” And I am not even having to help any children with remote learning. Nor am I confined to my home with a toddler.

These are challenging days we are living for sure which makes this a valid question to ask.

But we are not the first ones to ask the question. In the fifth Psalm of Ascents, the psalmist (David) also asked the very same question.

“What if the Lord had not been on our side? Let all Israel repeat: What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us?” (Psalm 124:1-2, NLT)

When circumstances come against the weakest of us, the Lord is for us, alongside of us helping us to stand victorious. The Lord makes all the difference in our lives and in the way we approach difficult times.

In fact, the psalmist goes on to say if the Lord had not been on our side we would have been swallowed up by circumstances, and overwhelmed to the point of utter discouragement.

But with the Lord, even in these pandemic days, we can have a different outlook and outcome. Instead of being engulfed, we can escape being trapped in the hopelessness or despair which surrounds us.

“We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap. The trap is broken, and we are free! Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:7-8, NLT)

God is on our side and makes all the difference in the life of His people. As we live in obedience to His Word, pursuing a closer relationship with Him daily, He comes to our aid.

“Everyone who is a man of God has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty heaven of angels than leave a saint without defense.” (Charles H. Spurgeon)

Photo by Mohamad Babayan on Unsplash