Sunday's Message (His Care - “I will protect you.”)

Even though life can seem threatening and overwhelming, Isaiah 40:10 reminds us that we don’t need to be afraid: Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Don’t tremble with fear. I am your God. I will make you strong, as I protect you with my arm and give you victories. During five worship services, we’ll consider how God can calm our fears and anxieties. We’ll consider the following:

• October 4 - His Presence (“I am with you.”)
• October 11 - His Relationship (“I am your God.”)
• October 18 - His Support (“I will make you strong.”)
• October 25 - His Care (“I will protect you.”)
• November 1 - His Power (“I will...give you victory.”)

On Sunday, October 25, we discussed how God calms our fears through his care and protection. Below is the text and a video presentation of the sermon. 

You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).  You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page.

Well, Halloween is almost here. Of course, I know that’s pretty obvious. I mean, as Coco and I take our morning walk, we pass at least a half dozen houses that are decorated. And Walmart has a whole section right up in front, full of candy and costumes and accessories. And next Saturday evening, from 6:00 to 8:00, we’ll be “Trunk or Treating” there, beside the church. All Hallows’ Eve is just six days away.

Of course, since I’ve never been a candy eater, Halloween wasn’t a very big deal, even when I was a kid. But I’ll tell you, that kind of changed when I became a father and Maggie was old enough to go trick or treating. You see, whether she was Tinker Bell or Alice in Wonderland or Hannah Montana, I kind of looked forward to walking with her around the neighborhood, watching her go up to houses and seeing how excited she was to be a different person for a couple of hours. But as every father knows, doing this kind of thing wasn’t all fun and games. I mean, I had a job to do. You see, it was my responsibility to make sure we kept to the route we’d planned, including the houses of church members. And I had to be ready to carry Maggie and her bag when she got tired. Now notice, I said “when,” not “if.” But I think my most important job was to protect Tink or Alice or Hannah from older kids who were shooting for gory and scary rather than cute and cuddling, like when she had a total four-year-old meltdown when we turned a corner and were face-to-face with a four foot tall Ghost Face back in 2005. Tink nearly lost her wings trying to get away from him. You see, for about five years, to ease her fears and make the evening better for all us, I offered Maggie a little protection on Halloween.

And that’s what we’re going to talk about this morning, you know, how God can help us face our fears by caring for us and in particular by offering us a little protection. Of course, as most of y’all know, for the last few weeks, we’ve been focused on this verse from Isaiah:

Don’t be afraid. I am with you.
Don’t tremble with fear.
    I am your God.
I will make you strong,
as I protect you with my arm
    and give you victories. [Isaiah 41:10, CEV]

And over the last three weeks, we’ve looked at the phrase, “I am with you” [Isaiah 41:10b, CEV] and considered God’s presence. And then we looked at “I am your God”  [Isaiah 41:10d, CEV] and considered God’s relationship with us. And last week, we looked at “I will make you strong” [Isaiah 41:10e, CEV] and considered God’s support. Now that’s what we’ve already done. And this morning, we’re moving on to the phrase “I [will] protect you with my arm.” [Isaiah 41:10f, CEV], and we’ll use it to consider how God cares for us by offering us protection, something that’s especially important when we’re afraid. And as we’ve done before, we’ll talk about how God does it and then how we can experience it. Now that’s the plan. 

Of course, when I say God offers protection, well, that’s not exactly going out on a limb. I mean, I think most Christian would agree that God really does care for us by protecting us as we navigate through life. As a matter of fact, as I read scripture, this seems to be a pretty important theme in the Bible. For example, from the Old Testament, just listen to what the Psalmist wrote:

God is our mighty fortress,
always ready to help
    in times of trouble.
And so, we won’t be afraid!
Let the earth tremble
and the mountains tumble
    into the deepest sea.
Let the ocean roar and foam,
and its raging waves
    shake the mountains.

A river and its streams
    bring joy to the city,
which is the sacred home
    of God Most High.
God is in that city,
and it won’t be shaken.
    He will help it at dawn.

Nations rage! Kingdoms fall!
But at the voice of God
    the earth itself melts.
The Lord All-Powerful
    is with us.
The God of Jacob
    is our fortress. [Psalm 46:1-7, CEV]

Now that’s from the Psalms. And just listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

Put on all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil’s tricks. We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world. So put on all the armor that God gives. Then when that evil day comes, you will be able to defend yourself. And when the battle is over, you will still be standing firm.

Be ready! Let the truth be like a belt around your waist, and let God’s justice protect you like armor. Your desire to tell the good news about peace should be like shoes on your feet. Let your faith be like a shield, and you will be able to stop all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Let God’s saving power be like a helmet, and for a sword use God’s message that comes from the Spirit. [Ephesians 6:11-17, CEV]

You see, sort of like what I was doing as the father Tinker Bell and Alice in Wonderland and of course, Hannah Montana, God protects us. And I’ll tell you, more often than not, he protects us from some of the more destructive attitudes and emotions and perspectives we often have, you know, the stuff that may be going on inside  our own heads that can really weaken us and make us susceptible to fear. 

For example, I think God protects us from shame, and I’m talking about those horrible feelings of failure and inadequacy that can really leave us vulnerable to situations and people who want us to be afraid and who seem to know what buttons to push and who focus on things we can’t change just to take the wind out of our sails. You see, God protects us from that stuff by reminding us that through Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, we’ve been freed from the past. And even if we might have to endure the consequences of our actions or our inaction, we sure don’t have to carry around the shame. And we sure don’t have to carry around guilt. And we sure don’t have to allow the past to dominate the present and control the future. As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us:

We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God’s throne! So keep your mind on Jesus, who put up with many insults from sinners. Then you won’t get discouraged and give up. [Hebrews 12:2-3, CEV]

You see, first, God protects us from shame.

And I’ll tell you, I think he does the exact same thing with hopelessness. Now, you’ve got to believe me. Personally, I know exactly what hopelessness feels like, you know, that today has been rough and tomorrow is going to be even worse. I’ll tell you, that’s a horrible feeling, being that vulnerable to a future that hasn’t happened yet. But it’s right here where God steps in, reminding us that, when you get right down to it, the future won’t be controlled by problems and pain, fears and frustration, despair or even death,  because whether we like it or not, the future, our future is in the hands of God, in his gracious and merciful and loving hands. That’s the way it is and will continue to be, something that the prophet Jeremiah must have understood when, speaking for God, he wrote this:

I will bless you with a future filled with hope—a future of success, not of suffering. You will turn back to me and ask for help, and I will answer your prayers. [Jeremiah 29:11-12, CEV]

You see, second, God protects us from hopelessness.

But even that’s not all, because I think he also protects us from confusion, and I’m talking about the kind of confusion we feel when we just don’t know where to go or what to do. I’ll tell you, in my opinion, there are few things as scary as having no idea how we’re going to pass that test or pay that bill or finish that assignment. And so we just lay there, at three in the morning, with our minds going so fast there’s no way we can settle. What the heck are we going to do? Well, although it might not be exactly what we want to hear, I believe God offers an answer, if we’re willing to listen. It’s like the writer of the Proverbs said, 

With all your heart
you must trust the Lord
    and not your own judgment.
Always let him lead you,
and he will clear the road
    for you to follow. [Proverbs 3:5-6, CEV]

You see, along with protecting us from shame and hopelessness, third, I believe God also protects from confusion. And that’s how he cares for us when we’re afraid.

And I’ll tell you, I think we can experience this care by claiming God’s protection. In other words, this is something we can decide to do. And as we’ve seen when we were talking about his presence and relationship and support, this is also something I believe we can see in scripture. For example, again, according to the Psalmist:

Live under the protection
    of God Most High
and stay in the shadow
    of God All-Powerful.
Then you will say to the Lord,
“You are my fortress,
    my place of safety;
you are my God,
    and I trust you.”

The Lord will keep you safe
from secret traps
    and deadly diseases.
He will spread his wings
over you
    and keep you secure.
His faithfulness is like
    a shield or a city wall.

The Lord says, “If you love me
    and truly know who I am,
I will rescue you
    and keep you safe.
When you are in trouble,
    call out to me.
I will answer and be there
    to protect and honor you.
You will live a long life
    and see my saving power.” [Psalm 91:1-4, 14-16, CEV]

Now that’s the Psalmist. And according to Jesus Christ himself:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit. You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. [John 15:1b-5, CEV]

You see, I firmly believe we can experience God’s care by claiming his protection. And in my opinion, it’ll happen the minute we decide to do three things, and let me briefly share with you what they are.

For example, first, I believe we can claim this divine protection by simply trusting God. Now I know, I seem to talk about faith every single week, but there’s a reason for that. You see, regardless of the threat we might be facing or the problem we might be enduring or the pain we might be surviving, trusting God is going to help. I mean, just knowing that the threat and the problem and pain won’t have the final word and right here and now, that we don’t have to face and endure and survive all by ourselves, man, that makes a difference. You see, regardless of what’s happening around and within us, faith can enable us to say with the Apostle Paul, 

We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose, and he has always known who his chosen ones would be. He had decided to let them become like his own Son, so his Son would be the first of many children. [Romans 8:28-29, CEV]

You see, we can claim his protection by, first, trusting God. 

And second, we can also claim it by deciding to approach God. And I’ll tell you why that’s important. You see, I can trust in the forces of the universe. I can trust in the theories of probability and chance. Man, I can even trust in the power of positive thinking. But I’ll tell you, when I decide to trust in the one who loved me before he created the universe and who entered my time and space so that I could understand him and he could understand me and who is constantly flowing around and through me, man, this is a God I can approach with both humility and confidence, and I’m talking about the one Paul challenged the Philippians to approach when he wrote this:

Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel. [Philippians 4:6-7, CEV]

You see, we can claim his protection by, second, approaching God.

And finally, we can claim it by simply obeying him. And I’ll tell you, although trusting and approaching are important, the rubber hits the road with obedience. I mean, faith involves the head and the heart. And when you get right down to it, so does coming close to God. But obedience involves our will and ultimately our hands. It means intentionally looking past ourselves so that we can see the needs of others. And it demands actively putting God’s protection from shame and hopelessness and confusion to the test. In other words, I think it takes genuine effort and courage to apply this little exchange Jesus had with his followers to ourselves:

Jesus said to his disciples:

If you love me, you will do as I command. Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help you and always be with you. The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don’t see or know him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you. [John 14:15-17, CEV]

You see, if we’re serious about claiming his protection, along with being willing to trust and to approach, I think we need to obey. And when we do, I believe we’ll be experiencing God’s care. 

Now, like I said, for me, those really special Halloweens lasted only for only about five years. You see, at the same time she stopped being Tinker Bell and Alice in Wonderland and Hannah Montana and started being dead things, you know, a dead vampire and a dead cheerleader and even a dead Little Red Riding Hood, at about that time, Maggie really didn’t want me to cramp her Halloween style anymore. And even though, for a few years, I was allowed to go out with her, I had to be as invisible as possible and when seen, pretend I wasn’t her father. And then, before I was ready, trick or treating had been replaced with Halloween parties and dances and I was left handing out candy. At least on that one night, my daughter no longer really wanted my care because she felt she no longer needed my protection.

But with respect to God, that’s really not the case with us. I mean, we all face a whole bunch of stuff that seems both overwhelming and frightening. But before we just give into the fear, I think it’s important for us to remember God cares for us by offering us protection, you know, that he protects us from shame and hopelessness and confusion. And this we’re able to claim when we decide to trust God and to approach God and to obey God. You see, regardless of our age, God can help us face our fears through his care and protection.