Psalm 34:11-22

Psalm 34:11-22
Common English Bible (CEB)

  11 Come, children, listen to me. Let me teach you how to honor the Lord: 12 Do you love life; do you relish the chance to enjoy good things? 13 Then you must keep your tongue from evil and keep your lips from speaking lies! 14 Turn away from evil! Do good! Seek peace and go after it!
  15 The Lord’s eyes watch the righteous, his ears listen to their cries for help. 16 But the Lord’s face is set against those who do evil, to eliminate even the memory of them from the earth. 17 When the righteous cry out, the Lord listens; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he saves those whose spirits are crushed.
  19 The righteous have many problems, but the Lord delivers them from every one. 20 He protects all their bones; not even one will be broken. 21 But just one problem will kill the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be held responsible. 22 The Lord saves his servants’ lives; all those who take refuge in him won’t be held responsible for anything.

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  To understand this passage well, I have to challenge my typical thinking of what protection means.  My initial thoughts of protection mean that nothing bad will ever happen to me.  But then I look to Christ, God's beloved and only Son, and see him hanging on a cross, for all the world to see, suffering and dying a bloody, violent death.  I wonder what type of protection this is...
  But then I look beyond, I look deeper, and see Christ emerging from the tomb, the victor over death, the One whom death cannot hold, the One whom shall live and reign forever.  In looking deeper, I can see that true protection means that we shall not be pulled from the hand of God, that death and disease and sin cannot tear us from our true Beloved, and that we shall live forever because the brokenness cannot conquer and destroy the soul.
  So when God protects us, he does so in such a way that suffering will still affect us in this world, but it shall not destroy us, because in Christ we are with God, forever.

May the presence and power of God encourage you today