Their Help and Their Shield

I read this proverb this morning: “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him” (Proverbs 30:5). I love this idea that the Lord will be a shield for those who trust in Him. Many other scriptures suggest the same idea. For example, the psalmist wrote, “O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield” (Psalm 115:9-11). Another psalm also declares: “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory” (Psalm 84:11). David similarly said, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped” (Psalm 28:7). He also professed, “The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence” (2 Samuel 22:3). The Lord said to Abraham: “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (Genesis 15:1). And the Lord also said in this dispensation of those He has called to do His work: “And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler” (Doctrine and Covenants 35:14). Over and over, He has declared that He will be a shield to those who trust in Him. Surely He will do the same for us today to protect us from the numerous attacks of the adversary we must face.  

            So how does the Lord become our shield to help us? In Paul’s words to the Ephesians about putting on the armor of God, he suggested that we need among other things to take “the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16). The Savior said the same in our dispensation: “Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor…. Taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Doctrine and Covenants 27:17). Thus we see that it will take faith in Him if we are to obtain the shield He has to offer us. We find protection by strengthening our faith and trust in Him. He said as much to Joseph when the young prophet had failed to have enough faith to say no to Martin Harris: “Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble” (Doctrine and Covenants 3:8). As we put our faith in Him, trusting His word and commandments, He will shield us from the fiery darts of the adversary and support us in times of trouble. One of the ways of course that we develop this faith and strengthen that shield is through the word of God. Nephi wrote, “And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction” (1 Nephi 15:24). As we hold fast to His word, both in studying it and applying it, He will protect us from temptations and fiery darts and lead us safely through our mortal experience. Trusting in Him we will find the truth of David’s words, “For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12). And how we all need that shield in our world today!