How can I receive the protection of God?

We thus see that God has made abundant provision for His saints; that if He teaches us that there is no necessity to sin, He also reveals to us the secret of our preservation from it; that our safety lies in Himself who alone is able to guard us, and that He never fails to respond to the cry of faith. It is therefore as true now, as in the days of the Psalmist (and there is power available for the saint today that the Psalmist never knew) that if we cry, "O Lord, hold Thou us up," we shall be safely kept.

GOD OUR REFUGE. In time of trouble, the heart is often ready to turn anywhere for help rather than to God; but faith always looks to God, and to God only. The heart that has thus to do with God finds that His love attracts, His faithfulness encourages, and His power to usward in Christ emboldens us to count upon Him, and that too when all is dark and hopeless on every hand. When God is really our refuge, the triumphant utterance of the soul is — "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Happy indeed are those who thus in unfeigned faith make God their refuge! We read that when Asa, king of Judah, relied on Jehovah, he was delivered from a great host of the Ethiopians; but when he relied on the king of Syria, and relied not on the Lord his God, he was rebuked by the prophet for it, and had constant wars in consequence. (2 Chron. 16:7-9.) When Jehoshaphat trusted in God, he had great success, and God gave him rest round about; but when he sought to strengthen himself by making affinity with the wicked king of Israel, we are expressly told that the Lord broke his works. (2 Chron. 20:37.) Again, while David trusted in God, the strongest fleshly foe fell before him in the great Goliath; but when, in unbelief and self-occupation, he "said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul," he pursued a course very dishonouring to God and disastrous to himself; but it is beautiful to perceive in the divine record, that when he again "encouraged himself in the Lord his God," the result was most prosperous, and he became more than conqueror. (1 Sam. 18; 27:1; 30:6.) And so in a later day, an inspired apostle marks out the Christian's path as calling for constant exercise of faith, when he says, "We walk by faith, not by sight." And when his heart was well-nigh fainting because of the trouble which came upon him in Asia, he writes, "We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." (2 Cor. 1:9-10.)

The simple refuge of the saint is in God. "God is my defence." It is not counterplotting, nor using human means to meet the power of the enemy. We may partially perhaps and for a time so succeed, but in using carnal weapons we have lost the dependence which calls God in, and the perfection of walk and testimony which waiting on Him gives.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." … Human efforts shut this help out. … No human planning is ever right. In His own time and way, God will come in. … Human efforts prove want of faith and restlessness, and planning is mere flesh.

No doubt, our God is very merciful, very gracious, and His tender mercy is over us, even when we wander off the path of duty; but this is another thing altogether, and it leaves wholly untouched the statement that we can only count on divine protection when our feet are in the pathway of duty. If a Christian goes out boating for his amusement; or if he goes clambering over the Alps merely for sightseeing, has he any right to believe that God will take care of him? Let conscience give the answer. If God calls us to cross a stormy lake, to preach the gospel; if He summons us to cross the Alps on some special service for Him, then, assuredly, we can commit ourselves to His mighty hand to protect us from all evil. The grand point for all of us is to be found in the holy path of duty. It may be narrow, rough and lonely; but it is a path overshadowed by the wings of the Almighty and illumined by the light of His approving countenance.

Fourthly, the believer looking to the LORD for his help, is assured that he will be kept at all seasons. In a world of warring nations we have to face ever present dangers, both "by day" and "by night." The LORD does not say to the believer, "Thou shalt not have to face these terrors even as others," but He says, "If you make Me your 'refuge', and put your 'trust' in Me, 'Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day. Nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday" (Psalm 91:2, 5, 6).

The wisdom of true sanctification is apparent here; but it is the Word of God that is able to make wise (2 Tim. 3:16). It warns the sinner of impending judgment, and if he is wise he will take refuge in the blessed shelter of Divine grace, the atoning death of the Lord Jesus, the only shelter from the wrath of God against sin. And as to the dangers of the Christian path, the snares of Satan, threats against personal faith and godliness, cunning attacks upon the truth of the Church of God, the child of God ought not to be ignorant, but by acquaintance with Scripture should foresee the grave dangers that threaten him and take refuge in the truth provided of God.

In the next clause the same principle is applied to human vigilance: "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Jerusalem may yet be rebuilt and fortified so strongly as to be deemed impregnable; the watchful sentries may be constantly on the alert; every possible care may be taken to guard against any — and especially any nocturnal — assaults; but the most strenuous efforts of human strength and care will be utterly futile unless the Lord keep the city. Illustration after illustration of this truth might be easily drawn from historical records, and notably from the capture of Babylon by Cyrus — all alike proclaiming the impotence of man when acting apart from God. It is a lesson needing to be written upon the hearts of God's people in all ages, that they may repose alone upon His protection and care, and thus be able to sing in the darkest hour, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

Is it not well, dear Christian reader, to deal closely with our hearts, in the presence of God, on this deeply-practical and momentous subject? It is easy to speak of our own. weakness; but do we so feel it day by day and continually, that we are compelled to look to God for strength? Is it a realized fact with us, that in us, that is, in our flesh, dwelleth no good thing; and because of this, are we cast upon the power and goodness of God? Surely it is a precious reality to have God for our refuge and strength, waiting on and for Him, because He has been, and is, and will be, "a very present help in trouble;" and such always prove that "blessed is the man whose strength is in thee." If God be our refuge, we shall find either that He will give us deliverance from the trouble, or help in the trouble; but blessing it will be, present blessing, in some way or other. It may be painful to find every other refuge fail us, all other streams dry, every cistern broken, and lover and friend stand aloof; but God being really our refuge, we shall find Him our strength, and a very present help. Trials, more or less, we must all have but what unspeakable blessing there is in making God our refuge! What relief! What rest How truly the following lines express the utterance of many tried souls who cleave to God in their sorrow: "Other refuge have I none; Hangs my helpless soul on Thee: Leave, oh, leave me not alone Still support and comfort me. All my trust on Thee is stayed; All my help from Thee I bring; Cover my defenceless head With the shadow of Thy wing!"

In the presence of the unrelenting power of evil, in the face of foes whose guiding principle is enmity against God, in the place where he who has the power of death binds his captives through slavish fear to do his will, God will never allow temptation to be without a way of escape for those that trust in Him. Death very often has been, and will be yet again, the only door of deliverance open to those that will not deny their Lord. But what a glorious deliverance that is from all the power of the enemy for those who can say, “Death is ours!” and who can boldly face it, being strengthened with the power of their Lord’s might, as they sing with Him, “O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” The enmity of Satan and the malice of man will yet swell the ranks of the noble army of martyrs, and Jesus says to His followers, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” He was faithful to death for us; He took the cup of suffering and drank it to the dregs; He went through the most terrific hour of temptation, and having left us an example that we should follow in His steps, He never promises that we shall be kept out of tribulation; but He does promise to sustain us in it— “In this world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” May He grant to us to overcome, even as He overcame! Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.