I have always loved those comparisons between life and nature. Like how human lungs resemble tree branches, fingerprints resemble the rings of trees, or human veins resemble the veins of leaves. I once heard that these similarities weren’t accidents, but evidence they were made by the same Creator. I love that thought.
I stumbled upon an unlikely comparison the other day and have been chewing on it ever since—the shield of faith and macrophages. For those of you like me, who likely had no idea what macrophages are, they are the cells that make tattoos possible. When ink is deposited into the deep layers of skin, your immune system responds by sending macrophages to destroy it. Unable to do so, they engulf the ink and hold it in place. When those cells die, another comes and takes its place—re-engulfing the ink. Holding the image in place.
I did The Armor of God Bible Study by Priscilla Shirer a few years ago. If you had asked me then where the armor of God was mentioned in the Bible, I would have emphatically said Ephesians and moved on. But the start of this year found me again in the Book of Genesis, and there it was—the shield of God—and now I am finding the armor of God throughout Scripture.
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’” (Genesis 15:1)
Fear not… I am your shield.
The shield was the first piece of armor that God gave us through Abram.
Abram stood in a place that feels all too familiar to me lately. He had just come out of conflict, likely carried fear and weariness, had turned down earthly wealth, and stood in the space between promise and fulfillment. God reassured him that his true security and reward would come not from circumstances, but from God Himself—God would be his shield.
Which got me thinking—why offer a shield when God could simply deliver the promise?
To understand that, you have to understand the purpose of a shield. Not a small shield, but the kind the Romans carried into battle—the size of a door, made of layered wood covered in canvas and leather, edged in iron, large enough to cover the whole body when crouched down. Soldiers would soak them in water, lock them together, and raise them overhead in turtle formation. Flaming arrows could strike them, sink in, and be extinguished. The shield did not merely deflect the attack—it neutralized it.
I liked Priscilla Shirer’s explanation that fiery darts are not always meant to kill us. Sometimes they are just meant to distract us. Fear, doubt, weariness, and questions about what comes next—those are all distractions intended to take our eyes off the promise.
So, in chapter 15, when God begins with “fear not,” it wasn’t because He was incapable of delivering on His promise or changing the battlefield. Rather, He was saying: I will stand between you and what you fear.
Why would He do that?
As previously stated, God was capable of both delivering a promise and delivering Abram out of his trials. But God knew the man, Abram, who once needed reassurance in chapter 15 would become the man, Abraham, willing to surrender Isaac in chapter 22. Faith was not formed in a single moment on the mountain. Abram’s name was not changed in a single moment either. It was forged over years through repeated moments where God proved His character, and Abraham, through trust and obedience, allowed his faith to be refined.
Abraham’s trials became the ink. God’s repeated protection held him in place. Over time, trust was etched into Abraham’s life. That mark became a testimony carried through generations.
If you’re sitting in a season of waiting on a promise, and the trials seem endless, and you’re struggling with the belief that God is capable because your situation has not changed, perhaps He is speaking Genesis 15:1 over your life.
Fear not.
Perhaps He is asking for your trust and obedience while He chooses formation in your life to prepare you for your mountaintop moment.
I am your shield.
Dr. Tony Evans ended a teaching on faith with this:
“Faith is acting like it is so, even when it is not so, so that it might be so, simply because God said so.”
Leave a Reply