To Encourage You

2 Samuel 22:31 “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.”

I am thankful for those Christians who have been through very great trials and have come out the other side magnifying and praising God.  Those are the people I want to model my own life after, for those are the people who have demonstrated that their faith was real.  

David was one such person.  The words above from 2 Samuel 22 are excerpted from a song he wrote.  David wrote many songs. The book of Psalms is filled with them.  What an example was this man who was brought so very low in life and yet came through it all with a song in his heart.  The song in 2 Samuel 22 is introduced with the following words: “And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.”  Like so many other examples in the Scriptures (think of Job, Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus) David, though a  man after God’s own heart, suffered grievously throughout much of his life.  But he endured, and as he looked back over his life, the words above are among those he could confidently say.  He could say that God’s way is perfect.  Though it may be a hard way, it’s a good way – in fact it’s the best way any person could ever take. It’s as the psalmist said in Psalm 119:96 “I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.” In other words, he is telling us that there always seems to be a limit to even the best things in life. There always seems to be the situation where you can get too much of even a good thing.  But that’s not the case regarding the things of God. They are “exceedingly broad,” for they are infinite in their perfection.  

David’s words would find their ultimate fulfillment in the perfect One Who one day would come to earth, the Son of David, the way, the truth and the life.  He is the One Who is perfect in every way.  It is His way that is the perfect example to follow.  

David could also say that God’s Word was true, perfectly true. David had been squeezed by every pressure the world could throw at him, and he found that, through it all, everything that God had ever said had proven true.  Not one word had ever failed him.  

And then, God was his shield. It’s why he could face Goliath with just a sling and a stone, for with God as his protection, what more did he really need?  Everywhere David went he had this great shield before him.  It was a reality to which his eyes were opened time after time. He could say in his song recorded in Psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.”   And it’s that same shield, truth, and perfect way that is there for every person who follows the Lord.  

Jesus called it “the narrow way that leads to life.”  He called it this because there are so few who take it.  Most people reject this way.  They think that some other way is better.  But any other way is not. Any other way can be included in “the broad way that leads to destruction,” for every other way falls short of that which is perfect and that which is true.  And it is because of this that every other way is a shield full of holes that won’t protect anyone in the end.