Faith Is Given To Guard Life In Everything; Not From Everything

Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

But if faith be a protecting shield, what then of the apostle's own experience? 

So far from being defended from life's ills, he knew them all in an abounding measure. 

He was not protected from cold or heat or hunger, nor from shipwreck, nor from the hand of robbers (2Co 11:1-33). 

He was not protected from bodily infirmity, for he suffered from his lacerating thorn (2Co 12:1-21). 

Everything that makes life bitter was mingled in the cup of the apostle, and yet he dares to speak of faith's protection. 

I think there are many who have still to learn that faith was never intended for exemption. 

Faith is not given to guard the life from anything; it is given to guard the life in everything. 

It empowers one to bear, and to bear cheerfully, what otherwise would break the heart and darken the loving ordering of God. 

To pass through the very worst that life can bring, undismayed in soul, and unembittered; 

To tread the darkest mile and sing in it; never to lose heart, or hope, or love; 

That is what faith achieved for the apostle and can achieve for everyone of us, and that is the shielding power of faith. 

So was it with our blessed Lord. When He came here, He was offered no exemption. 

He was a man of sorrows, and He suffered, and He was tempted in all points like as we are. 

Yet to the end, in a faith that never faltered, He was loving, tranquil, and forgiving and under the cross spoke about His peace. 

~George H. Morrison~