guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of His faithful ones.” NRSV
God is our Protector. I think that is a fact that is known by most Christians. The thing is, I’m not sure we always understand what He is protecting. Yes, He protect us, but He doesn’t protect us from adversity. He protects us from falling away if we trust Him.
• He is a shield to those who walk blamelessly.” He isn’t a shield to everyone, but to those who persevere through temptation. James talks about this very thing:
“Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12 NRSV). The Greek translated here as “endures” is “hupomeno” and means lit., “to abide under (hupo, ‘under’), signifies ‘to remain in a place instead of leaving it, to stay behind,’ or ‘to persevere’” (Vine, W. E. 1996. Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. T. Nelson: Nashville). I often think of temptation as something that hits quickly and then, if I resist it then, it disappears.
I think that ain’t so. Otherwise, James wouldn’t tell us that we have to “endure” it. I think we also know from experience that those struggles that we have in the Christian life are long and laborious and, when we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, can be true battles. Even when the Lord gives us victory, Satan will try again and again because he knows that was a weak area for us.
I think about the temptations that the Lord Jesus endured. Satan came to Him and said: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread” (Matthew 4:3 NRSV). The thing is, just because Jesus resisted and overcame the temptation doesn’t mean that He stopped being hungry. Rather, He changed His focus from satisfying this earthy body to satisfying the Father.
I know that, for myself, when I am having a struggle with temptation, to continually refocus myself (“What does God want me to do? How does He want me to be?”) becomes crucial. If I focus on the situation (or the people within it), I go back to my old, fleshly ways. But if I focus on trusting God and only pleasing Him, I begin to have victory through the temptation. It doesn’t mean that the situation goes away, but it does mean that I face it differently.
“He is a shield to those who walk blamelessly.” While we stand blameless before the Throne, not because of what we have done, but because of what the Lord Jesus has done, there is also the component of choice in how we walk (and I think that’s the key here). At any moment, we choose whether to obey the Lord or to go our own way. Vine’s says “In their daily walk they manifest that they are walking on the narrow road” (Vine, W. E. 1996. Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words. T. Nelson: Nashville). The Lord is a shield to us when we are obedient to Him. When we walk outside of His will, we open ourselves up to the injuries that come as a consequence of our own choices. I think our natural tendency is to ignore the way of the Word and to convince ourselves that we can protect ourselves. And so we build up defenses that are based on our own strength and then wonder why we are hurt in the process. The Lord is a Shield to those who trust Him:
“As for God, His way is perfect;
The word of the Lord is proven;
He is a shield to all who trust in Him” (Psalm 18:30 NKJ).
"He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him” (Proverbs 30;5 NKJ).
• Guarding the paths of justice
What is justice? Well, it certainly isn’t just making me happy. Because, unfortunately, sometimes what makes me happy is to have other people suffer (or at least for me to have the upper hand over them).
James tells us why we often don’t receive from our prayers:
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 2:3 NRSV).
The Lord guards the paths of justice, His justice! That means that His love pours out to everyone and whatever it takes to draw them to Him, that’s His goal:
“The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 NRSV).
Thus, His justice may be different than our justice. Our justice is usually about getting what we are owed. His justice is about righteousness, about righting the sinful world back into a proper relationship with Him. The Lord guards these paths, the paths of love, the narrow path that leads to Him.
• Preserving the ways of His faithful ones
Again, we come to the idea that His preservation is linked to our faithfulness in following Him. It’s like the image of the Shepherd and the sheep. The sheep are safe as long as they follow the Shepherd. Yes, if they stray, He will go and search for them, but there is that time of separation when the sheep is away from the Shepherd and at risk of being harmed.
The Lord preserves us when we are faithful. He pursues us when we are not, bringing us back into the fold and binding our wounds. But we may have wounds. Our protection is under His wings, in His path. When we know we are straying, we need to stop and return to Him. That’s where our safety is, on the path of His righteousness.
© 2008 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).
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