God’s protecting power

As I reflect on my second year at Saint Paul Seminary when I made the move from the propaedeutic house to the main seminary on campus, I can’t help but think of the little things. I don’t need to climb up and down a ladder to sleep in a lofted bed, I get a bathroom connected to my dorm room and share it with only one guy, and I have more freedom and space. It has made this year so much better, and I am thankful for those little things. 

Even bigger than those things has been the transition back to the classroom as a student and the academic studies of pre-theology. The focus is philosophy, and it was all new to me. Reading Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle for the first time has certainly been challenging but also exciting and interesting. What struck me most was how these great thinkers, from about 470 BC to 322 BC, seemed to be on to something and how they were only hundreds of years away from God coming to earth as man in Jesus. Soon they would have so many answers to things they were already pointing to. 

Today we still ask many of the same types of questions: “Why am I here? Where am I going? How do I get there?” At some point in life, and on some level, it seems like everyone has longings or stirrings in their hearts or wonders and ponders for answers to questions like these. In a sense, maybe we are all philosophers. More questions from Aristotle include: “What is nature? What is motion? What is time? What is place? What is substance?” By studying questions, I can see how this is preparation for theology and the humble study of the mystery of transubstantiation. 

My biggest takeaway from this year though came from spiritual direction. My director recommended that I do journaling about my holy hours. I have never done any type of journaling before. As I’ve looked back through my journal for the year, the word “shield” came to mind strongly during a holy hour in October. It was a word that continued to come up from time to time throughout the year, but I wasn’t really sure what to make of it. Why that word? What is the significance? Every time it came up, I felt compelled to linger and meditate with it. 

Slowly a theme developed and become clear. Some examples: Psalm 84:12, “for the Lord God is a sun and shield.” Psalm 144:2, “my mercy and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge.” Psalm 91:4, “his faithfulness is a shield.” Psalm 3:4, “but you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.” Psalm 33:20, “our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and shield.” Psalm 18:36, “you have given me the shield of your salvation.” Genesis 15:1, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield.” Psalm 5:13, “you cover him with favor as with a shield.” Psalm 7:11, “my shield is with God.” Proverbs 2:7, “he is a shield to those who walk in integrity.” 

It seemed like the Lord was trying to remind me that he is there protecting us in the storms of life. We sometimes don’t know it or feel it or even realize how much his protective shield is preventing us from falling into more sin, and that he has led us safe through many temptations. As it says in Ephesians 6:12 “for we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness.” 

The invisible shield of God continues to protect us from day-to-day, but we also need to cooperate with God’s grace and persevere in turning to him in prayer. He is with us through it all, we just need to put our faith and trust in God and his strong and saving shield will protect us in the spiritual battle. 

There is nothing to fear. It has been such a great year, and I’m so grateful to God for everything!