Day 186

1 Chronicles 1:1-2:17; Acts 23:11-25; Psalm 3:1-8; Proverbs 18:14-15

You, O LORD, Are a Shield Around Me

Both David the Psalmist and Paul lived in the certainty that indeed the Lord was a shield around them. The Lord had already revealed to Paul that he would testify to the facts about Him in Rome. Earlier in Acts, the Holy Spirit had also revealed to him that imprisonment awaited him. What the Lord has promised, Paul is absolutely convinced the Lord will bring about. There are those who would murder him in Jerusalem, but their plotting is overheard by Paul’s nephew! Chance? Coincidence? Luke doesn’t seem to think so as he recounts this story.

Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple famously said, “When I pray coincidences happen; when I stop praying, the coincidences stop happening.” When we begin to believe not in coincidences but in God’s hand at work, it is amazing to see just how much He takes care of us. He is indeed a shield about us.

The Rev. Sarah Bronos

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