God Is A Shield

“He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.” – Proverbs 2:7b

Tim Keller writes, “Proverbs is not a set of simple steps to a happy life for quick consumption,” but “a poetic art form that instills wisdom in you as you wrestle with it.” It’s like hard candy: bite down, and you get little out of it and a broken tooth; meditate, and the sweetness of insight comes. The word “proverb” is from the Hebrew masal: a poetic, terse, vivid, thought-provoking saying that conveys a truth in a few words. I like how this reading plan gives us a little bit of Proverbs each day.

The first thing this proverb does is promise me that if I walk in integrity, I will face dangers. One doesn’t need to be shielded otherwise. There are the dangers of spiritual warfare, in which we battle the schemes of the devil. “Put on the whole armor of God,” Paul writes in Ephesians, not “you there in the front lines, put on some armor; the rest of you can chill out.” There are the dangers of trials, which make it easy to grumble, give up or in too early, or lose hope or faith. “Count it joy, my brothers, when you meet trials,” writes James, not “if you meet trials.” 

But here, God is a shield. The Hebrew word is magen, from the root word ganan, which means “to protect.” It is translated in some versions as “buckler,” and refers to a smaller-sized shield, strapped to the left arm to block or parry blows at close range (unlike the Greek thureos Paul uses in Ephesians 6, which refers to a larger shield that covered the whole body). This tells me at least three things about God: first, he has the knowledge and foresight to anticipate the timing and direction of the blows that I face. A shield is only as good as when and where you position it; it needs to be at a certain place by a certain time to be effective. God is omniscient. Second, he has the power to stop the blow on impact; God is omnipotent. Third, God is close to me. He is right there with me during my closest and most intimate struggles. I am never alone; God is omnipresent.

But I have a part here too: I walk. This is something active and purposeful: I am not observing, or sitting, or shuffling around. Nor am I running, or leaping, trying to jump ahead as far as I can: I am moving forward one step at a time.

To what purpose? Moving forward in integrity. The Hebrew word tom here has a sense of wholeness and simplicity, of being undivided. I like how Dave defines this: as when our outward life matches our inward life. Would someone looking at my schedule feel it reflects what I claim to be important? Is what I tell the kids to do consistent with how I act in my own life or think in my own mind? Is there anything I do in the dark that I would not do in the light? Do I desire for outward acts of worship to reflect the true state of my heart and mind? 

We can choose to walk in integrity, even if we walk into battles and trials. But God knows, and sees, and protects with his power. The next part of this proverb says that he guards our paths and watches over our ways. One step at a time.