GOD SAYS, “I AM THY SHIELD”

 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying,

“Fear not, Abram:  I am thy shield, and thy exceedingly great reward.” 

(Genesis 15:1NKJV)

“These are perilous days,” the country preacher said.  I remember hearing this one time in a revival meeting a long time ago.  At the time, I was very young, and I was not sure what the preacher was talking about.  The only perilous thing I had experienced was worrying about supper being late, but we always had it.  I never once had a day my father and mother, and my grandparents did not provide for us an evening meal (for my brothers, sisters and I).

As an adult, however, some days the news is so bad as to be overwhelming.  It truly is “perilous times.”  The February 14 massacre of 17 children and adults in Parkland, Florida is a recent example.  This sickening slaughter of innocents is making our whole nation ill.  It is the latest in a series of gun related violent acts, in schools, churches, theaters and night clubs.  The equally horrendous massacre of innocents in Las Vegas, at a country western music concert is equally mind – boggling!  It is easy to ask the question:  “Has all the world gone mad?”

This morning, in worship, I did not hear an answer to the problem of gun violence in our culture, but at least I did not hear another person blaming the mentally ill for all this violence.  The problem is too many guns, of course, which provide a means for whomever has a grievance, or is seeking notoriety, or is truly deranged to gain their 15 minutes of fame.  For a few moments they become somebody and the rest of the community mourns as we sop up the blood of the latest victims and mourn these dear souls who are lost to our community and nation.

In Europe and Australia, guns are carefully regulated, so those doing violence there resort to knives, or throwing acid.  Only the religious zealots drive a lorry into crowds on London Bridge or massacre innocents in concerts or sitting in street cafes in Paris.  Even if we in the United States arm every teacher in every classroom and build a hundred new mental hospitals to house the mentally ill, we will not have solved the problem of gun related violence.  The problem is guns.  There are simply too many guns in this country capable of causing vast destruction and of killing masses of persons at once!  The type of semi-automatic rifles (as AR 47) could be reserved for police and military. Or at least, there could be some kind of regulation of who can own such weapons.  Perhaps raising the age to 25 for this type of weapon would take these out of the hands of angry, isolated young men who are bent on destruction.

Civilians could be content with their shotguns and deer rifles.  How many shots does it take to kill a deer?  Only one if well placed.  I know hunters who only use bow and arrows and take as many deer each season as persons with guns ever do!  Let us limit all long guns to a magazine of no more than 5, and pistols to no more than 6 bullets.  If a person cannot hit their target in 6 bullets, take away their right to own a gun.  No one needs a magazine larger than that.  The 2^nd Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms.  It does not say a person has the right to own an AK47.  Suppose we limited ourselves to the type of guns used in the Revolutionary War.  Is this what the founding fathers had in mind when considering a civilian militia for defense of the nation?  We might have a lot less school shootings if civilians were relegated to gunpowder, lead balls and muskets!

I grew up hunting with a one shot .410 shotgun.  At the most I carried 5 shells in my pocket to hunt a rabbit, quail or dove.  With only one shot a good hunter waits for the best shot.  There is no wasted ammunition and every shot is carefully taken.  One or two boxes of shells often lasted me for the whole hunting season.  I could not afford to waste ammunition.

This brief discussion of gun violence prepares us to hear the story of Abram.  Abram was asked by God to prepare for a covenant meeting.  In the custom of the day, Abram took a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon for the sacrifice for his meeting with God.  The larger animals he cut into two parts and separate the two halves so that an aisle was between the two parts.  The turtle dove and the pigeon remained whole.  As Abram waiting upon God to arrive for the meeting evening approached and he fell into a deep sleep.  While sleeping, a great darkness descended upon him and God spoke to Abram within this darkness.  Besides the promise of an heir from his own body, God told Abram that his descendants would sojourn for 400 years in a land which was not theirs, and that God would bring them out with great substance, after he judged that nation [Egypt].  God promised Abram a long life and peace and that he would be buried in a good old age.  God promised Abram’s descendants would take over and live in the land of the Amorites.

Finally, to seal this covenant, God appeared to Abram as a smoking pot and a burning torch.  It is significant that all these things happened to Abram while Abram was fast asleep.  In the traditional ceremony the two parties walk between the animal halves to seal the covenant.  In this instance, God is the only one who walked, promising all to Abram, even though Abram did nothing except listen and believe.

According to the Holy Scriptures, God invited Abram to look at the stars of the heaven and to try and count them.  “So shall your seed be,” God says.  AND ABRAM BELIEVED GOD AND IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  [emphasis mine]  Our minister, Rev. Bill Seel said today, “This is an act of God’s grace.  God promises the covenant and God alone brings this covenant to pass!”

We may never in our lifetime solve the issues of too many guns in our gun laden society.  However, we can all resolve as a Christian that we do not plan to ever kill or maim a human being!  I for one do not ever want to kill any human being and would not except to defend my wife and my family.  However, I do take comfort that my reward in God is not in how many different guns I can accumulate in this life, nor in how skilled I become at using any type of weapon to try and defend life and possessions.

“Lay up treasure in heaven,” Jesus says, “where neither moth corrupts nor thieves break through and steal.  For where your treasure it, there will your heart be also.” (The Gospel of Matthew 6:21)  I do not think any guns will be allowed in heaven, since warfare and killing are no more in that place.  If Jesus can cause the lamb and lion to lie down together, I suppose we could try doing a little better getting along with ourselves and with one another.

When I served full time in the pastorate, I liked to remind people who are those persons most likely to be joining them in heaven.  Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms.  I go to prepare a place for you.  If it were not so, I would have told you.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, then I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also.” (The Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verse 2).  Then from the pulpit I asked the congregation of worshipers to look first to the right and then to the left at the persons sitting beside them in the church pews.  Then I said, “Here are the ones who will be living in the same house in heaven as you!”

God never promises us “mansions.”  But God does promise us a room in a big house.  So it stands to reason that in order to get ready for heaven a great deal of our time now should be devoted to getting along with our neighbors, our relatives, and our friends, as well as those we don’t know very well, as it is likely we will all be there living together in that Great Day!

As to where those who do violence will be, I cannot say.  Maybe God has a place reserved just for murderers of children.  I sincerely hope so.  I would have a great deal of problem living alongside a person who had killed my daughter or my son.

Bill W.  The voice of one crying in this wilderness, “Make straight in this desert a highway for our God!”