God Protects Us

On Saturday, November 28, 2015, I went to my hometown, Columbia, Tennessee, to attend a funeral. I arrived at the church and one of the first people that I saw was Palmer, an old friend and a classmate of my youngest brother. It had been over forty years since I last saw him. We embraced each other with great joy and enthusiasm when we saw each other. We asked the usual questions of how are you and what are you doing. “I thought that you were in Miami,” I said. “I was but I moved back here a few years ago. I’ve moved back into our home place and it’s been a lot of work getting it fixed up,” Palmer said. He continued, “I’ve gone back to Bethel, no more partying and stuff.” Bethel A.M.E. is the church that Palmer attended with his family while he was growing up. Well, that’s what the Bible says. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it,” I said (Proverbs 2:26). We began to share that even when we were out there partying and doing whatever, we always had a sense of you have gone far enough. I reminded Palmer that when we lived in the trailer court, his mother would come by and remind him of who he was and how he should conduct himself. As we stood at the top of the steps of the church talking people were arriving for the funeral. Palmer said, “Let me get down here and help these ladies up the steps.” Our conversation ended because Palmer remembered his home training that taught him to assist the ladies up the steps. By now you may be wondering what does this have to do with the title of this article, “God Protects Us.” Let me explain.

A couple of days after the funeral I begin to think about my conversation with Palmer. I thought about how God has kept me through the years since I last saw my friend. I thought, “God has protected me all of my life.” As the old folks used to say, “He has kept me from dangers seen and unseen.” God protects us whether we think about it or not. God protects us when we are aware of His protection and when we are unaware of it. God has been faithful in protecting us, even before we were born. God said to the prophet Jeremiah: ‘“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations’” (Jer. 1:5, NASB). God protects us because He loves us and He has a purpose for our life. The thing is this. Often, we do not think of God’s protection until after God has gotten us out of some trouble. However, most often God protects us to keep us from having trouble. God has designed human life in such a way that we are protected through other people in the normal course of life.

When I think about what God said to Jeremiah, I am reminded that God protects us in our mother’s womb. In the womb we are totally dependent upon our mothers. Our food supply, our blood and oxygen is given to us by our mother through the unbiblical cord. The fluid in our mother’s womb provides us with a cushioned environment that protects us from outside elements. The antibodies in our mother’s blood protect us from disease. God protects us by supplying our mothers with food, shelter, and good health so that we can be born into this world. This reminds me that we are God’s children. We are helpless and totally dependent upon Him. Some people are aware of this truth while at the same time some people are totally unaware of their need for God. Fathers too have a role in the protection of the unborn child. He protects the unborn by doing all that he can to help the mother to have good health. Good health includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of the mother.

After we are born God continues to protect us. He provides our parents with a home to create a safe environment. Parents are given the responsibility to raise their children to have values, morals, and ethics that help the child to stay away from dangerous situations. God has given parents the responsibility to protect their children by training them in the right paths of life. Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 20-25; Joshua 4:1-7; Ephesians 6:4 are scriptures that help parents to understand that God requires them to protect their children through training by precepts and examples. As stated earlier, when a child has the right values instilled, right decisions at the right time keeps the young person from danger.

Now, I am not saying that the child will always do the right thing. This is true because Christians, especially young people, often have the problem that Paul mentioned in Romans 7. There is the desire to do the Christian thing, but sin and immaturity tempts us to do the wrong thing. I am saying that God protects us even when we make bad choices. He grants us grace and mercy in all of life’s circumstances. Such was the case of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. The young man left home. He wasted all his possessions with riotous living (vv. 13-14). He found himself living with the swine. One day the young man came to himself. He thought about the kind of man that his father was. He decided to return home and ask his father to be a servant. Now, when we think about it we can ask the question: “What self did the young man come to?” It was the self that had been protected by God through his father’s teaching and provisions. The young man was aware of his errors and the goodness of his father. In like manner, we can know God as a loving Father. We are protected by His Word. The psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep your word” (Ps. 119:67, NASB). The psalmist continues and says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105, NASB).

When I last saw Palmer we were in our early twenties. At that time we were doing our thing. We partied and had a lot of fun. As I talked with Palme at the funeral it is apparent that even then God was protecting us. God protected us I know because there was always this awareness that I was about to go too far. Dr. Michael Youssef, founder and President of Leading the Way says that what really separates a Christian from a non Christian is the awareness of sin. As I reflect on my life, I am aware that God through the teaching of my parents and others has protected me by stopping me from doing some of the things that I thought to do. Somehow I was reminded of what was the right thing to do when I thought to do the wrong thing. God has kept me from getting a lot of things that I wanted at the time. However, upon reflection, I am convinced that I am better off because I did not get those things. Yes, God protects us from ourselves. He guides our footsteps. He is in the words of the saints of years gone by: “A heart fixer and a mind regulator. Let us remember the words of the psalmist: “God is our refuge and strength” (Ps. 46:1, NASB).