Mensa Otabil - Favour is Your Shield
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David wraps up Psalm 5 by celebrating God’s faithfulness: He blesses the righteous and surrounds them with His favor like a protective shield, assuring believers that divine blessing and protection override any enemy curse.
A Hopeful Ending to Psalm 5
Psalm 5:12, «For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous. With favor you surround him as with a shield.» So David concludes his thoughts in this verse on a note of God’s faithfulness and who God is. If you look at how he began the prayer from verse number one and right through, it has been a journey of learning how to pray, how he approaches God in the morning, and how he arranges his prayer before God.
From Complaint to Rejoicing
He talks about all his enemies who have come against him, then he rejoices in the Lord. Now his heart is settled in God’s faithfulness. Prayer, when it is very heartfelt, goes through a similar journey. But we end on God’s faithfulness—that He is good. His mercies endure forever.
Punishment for Wicked, Favor for Righteous
So while the Lord punishes the wicked, He shows His faithfulness to the righteous and His favor to the righteous. One receives punishment, the other receives favor.
God Blesses the Righteous
So, two main thoughts that we will look at today: First, the Lord blesses the righteous. The Lord blesses the righteous. That’s something we have to settle in our hearts. The Lord blesses the righteous.
Who Are the Righteous Today?
The righteous in the New Testament are those who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, whose righteousness does not come from their own goodness but from the goodness of Christ. Those who trust in Jesus Christ, those who have been washed by the blood of Jesus, these are those who are called the righteous.
No Curse Can Stick
When we give our lives to Christ, trust Him for salvation, and lean on Him every day of our lives, the Bible says here that God’s blessing comes upon us. And when God’s blessing is upon you, no curse of the enemy will attach itself to you. So if you’re going through a bad patch in your life, a difficult phase of your life, just remember, if you are the righteousness of God in Christ, God will bless you. God’s blessing is upon you.
God’s Favor: Your Protective Shield
The second thing we would note is that God favors the righteous. He shows kindness to those who are righteous, and He favors them. I like how David puts it; he says, «With favor you will surround him as with a shield.» God’s favor is like a shield around us.
Why a Shield? David’s Warfare Insight
Now, why does David use this analogy? Because the shield was a very important weapon in war in the days of David. People don’t use them these days in modern warfare, but it was a very important weapon of war. Normally when people would go into battle, maybe a troop would be moving and there would be enemies against them.
Locked Shields: Total Protection
One of the things they would do is join their shields together and cover themselves under a shield. There would be a joining of shields that surrounds this troop so that when you shoot the arrow against them, it hits the shield; it doesn’t hit the people.
Surrounded and Safe
So David says, «God’s favor is like a shield around me.» In other words, because God has favored me, I am protected. I am canopied under Him. The Lord’s favor does not only do you good; the Lord’s favor also covers you. The Lord’s favor surrounds you. The Lord’s favor protects you.
Step Into the Week Confident
So, as you get ready to go into a new week, may the favor of the Lord surround you like a shield, and may the Lord cover you from every snare of the fowler, from every attack of the enemy, from evil words that are being spoken against you. All those arrows will hit the shield and bounce back because the Lord has covered you with favor as a shield.
It’s Going to Be a Great Week!
It’s going to be a good week for you next week, and I’ll start teaching something new from tomorrow.
Let’s Pray Together
So let’s pray. Let’s share a word of prayer together. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, you bless the righteous with your presence. Let your favor surround me all around as a shield, in Jesus' name. Amen.»