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God’s Shield of Victory

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 22, 2020
Written several years several years ago when I faced with three difficult situations simultaneously and turned to Psalm 18 for comfort and encouragement.
Psalm 18:32 “It is God who arms me with strength” [In my weakness, your strength is perfected.] “and makes my way perfect.”
[You know exactly what should happen, what should come, what is right–and that is what you bring, such as these three difficulties. You know how I should respond and will guide me in that direction.]
Psalm 18:33 “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.”
[It is in your power that we can come out on top, for without you we can do nothing. It is in your grace that we can move onward and upward in life despite difficulties, keeping on the whole armor, standing in the day of evil, doing all you desire from us.]
Psalm 18:34 “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”
[You give us ability, strength, endurance and discipline–which we must then develop in cooperation with you.]
Psalm 18:35 “You give me your shield of victory,”
[This is important—it is YOUR shield, Lord, it is YOUR victory, therefore the glory goes to YOU alone. Yet you call us to share in your victories by your power, to defeat the true enemy in your strength, to triumph in praise, prayer and obedience. You give your shield, but we have to take it up and use it. In the three difficult situations before me now, I must get that shield up, offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, resting in you, praising you in my weakness, trusting you in prayer and rejoicing in the unseen work you are doing behind the scenes.]
“and your right hand sustains me;”
[as I tire and droop in the battle, I can turn to you, and you lift me up, strengthen me, support me so I can continue on in the fight against the real enemy.]
“you stoop down to make me great.
[This is a beautiful and amazing truth: we are so far below you in every way, yet you lean way down over the side of Heaven to lift us up and make us great in your sight. This is sharing your glory with us, giving us your power, wisdom and grace that those around us may see your work in our lives and rejoice in you.]
Psalm 18:36 “You broaden the path beneath me,”
[You, Lord God, are at work in all the details. You open the doors, prepare the way, deal with things we are not aware of and protect us in your love.]
“so that my ankles do not turn.”
[you know what will cause us to stumble, to fall, and to be crippled—and these things you prevent, or guide us around, and as we follow, we can press on in the battle, thinking truth, thanking you, joining you in prayer, doing what your Word says is right.
Praise you, Lord God, for your goodness and graciousness and love. Praise you that I can live in these truths, bask in your light, revel in your love and rise up to run in obedience to you, bringing honor and glory to your name. May that happen today as you bring light to me.
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Marvelous Love

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 20, 2020
What a wonder you are, Lord Jesus, in your willingness to suffer the anguish of the cross, the despair of abandonment, the pain of rejection, the battering of Satan’s attacks, the horror of becoming sin, the crushing weight of the Father’s judgment, the banishment from His presence, and condemnation to death.
There was no need for you, the Righteous One, to suffer these things, but love led the way, faithfulness stayed the course, obedience brought the glorious conclusion. Praise you for this great display of your rich, loving, gracious Character, O Everlasting God!
Praise you for your loving care, shepherding your rebellious children, displaying great patience in the face of our disrespect, unbelief, disobedience and selfishness.
You, Lord Jesus, are worthy of worship for boundless reasons. I praise you for the joy you give as I think on how you have worked in my life, providing personal, powerful, persistent, patient intervention to bring me to my senses, to bring me to surrender and out of trouble.
I love you, Lord Jesus. I rejoice in your all-sufficient grace, I praise you for your all-encompassing goodness. Truly you are worthy of all-absorbing worship, so I bow down now and give you honor in my thoughts, desires and words.
 
I rise up to enter this day, giving you glory in my life. May you be the One I continually delight in, and may that delight spill over onto all I will meet today!
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Heading West

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 19, 2020
I completed the Bureau Indian Affairs application for a teacher’s position, mailed it off to their headquarters in New Mexico and got my 250 cc motorcycle ready for the trip.
It was 6 am on a fine July morning in 1968 when I finished putting the last items in my kit and opened the door to put it on my motorcycle. I was amazed to see a crowd gathered outside.
 
“What’s all this?” I asked.
 
Carl, a high school friend, replied, “Your mother invited us all to send you off!”
 
I smiled, pleased at this thoughtful act and the willingness of all the friends and relatives to come out this early.
 
I shook hands with each one and chatted a bit, but I was anxious to be off. I closed the neon orange box bolted to the back of my BSA 250, pulled on my helmet and climbed aboard.
 
As I dropped it into gear and began to pull away, my friends all shouted goodbye and Carl fired off a few rounds from his rifle to send me on my way.
 
The miles passed quickly on that first sunny day. My initial stop was Gettysburg where I visited with friends. Then I moved on to Maryland to stay with a classmate. From there I went north, through Williamsport over the steel grid bridge that made the motorcycle sway alarmingly.
 
I arrived that evening in Cherry Creek, NY to stay with my sister Andrea and her husband, Jerry. “Where do you go from here?” asked Andrea at breakfast the next day.
 
“First to visit our Grandma Haslip in East St. Louis, then up to Minneapolis to see my old college roommate. From there I’ll work my way west to Alaska.”
 
“Where will you stay?” Andrea asked.
 
“Beyond Minneapolis, I don’t know. I’ve got my sleeping bag, so could stay most anywhere.”
 
“Doesn’t the uncertainty bother you?” she asked.
 
“No, it’s an adventure,” I replied.
 
Several days later I arrived in Minneapolis. I’d been somewhat concerned about a whine that developed in the engine during my ride across Indiana. It had been a hot day, very hot, so I thought the whine might go away when things cooled off, but it seemed to be with me for good. It made me insecure, but I decided to ignore it, a technique I’d found effective before.
 
However,this did not work well with the “whine” in my soul that surfaced periodically. It was to come up more often than I wanted in the near future.
 
I checked my map, reviewed the directions to Ed’s home and drove into the city. I came to a large intersection where 5 roads came together.
 
I was first in line at the light and when it turned green, I zoomed out to cross the intersection, but was shocked to see cars coming from not one but two of the roads facing me. I had to swerve left and then right, barely missing the oncoming vehicles.
It happened so fast that I could only react instinctively—and fortunately by this time the motorcycle had become an extension of my body and I could almost move it with thought alone. But this close call really shook me.
 
Until this happened, I had been feeling really good about myself and my ability to deal with all that would come at me in life. And even though I had instinctively handled the near collisions well, it reminded me that there was a lot in life that was out of my control. It made me feel small and vulnerable. There was again a small whine in my soul.
 
I did not use my motorcycle at all during the days I spent at Ed’s. I felt the need to withdraw a bit from traffic and recover from the scare of my near accident.
 
The visit over, I loaded my box back on the motorcycle and headed out for Wisconsin to visit another friend from college. On the way I camped out in a field and awoke to a dew-soaked dawn with a million diamond drops sparkling in the sunrise. Even though life was uncertain, it certainly had a lot of beauty in it!
 
The next day I arrived at my friend’s house, and spent a couple of days boating, bicycle riding and visiting some local sights. Then it was time to move on.
 
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Marvelous Beauty

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 18, 2020
 
Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you are the Sovereign King, the One who has a plan for every situation and will work things out. You are the One who will bring good things to pass in the best way—even out of all that is negative.
Praise you, too, Lord Jesus, for reminding me last night that you are the One I am to delight in. It was good that you drew me away from work, so I could be quiet and hear your reminder. I was in danger of veering off into delighting in projects.
 
You reminded me that my passion, my first love, my delight must be in you, Lord Jesus, the Creator of all, the Owner of all, the Ender of all. You are the One and Only One to be exalted.
Worship is very much wrapped up in delighting in you, intentionally nurturing our first love for you. So, I choose to delight in you now, remembering that you are perfect in wisdom, complete in knowledge, consistent in doing what is best for your children.
You are magnificent in power, creating galaxies just by speaking. You are majestic in your grace, forgiving where justice demands punishment. You are mighty in your goodness, pouring out positives on both the righteous and the rebel.
In you there is no evil, no sin, no wrong, no error. As seen in the picture below, You are pure and white as the snow, as clear as the blue sky, as majestic as the clouds, as beautiful as still waters. You are the King of kindness, the God of goodness, the holy Hater of evil, the just Judge of wrong doers, the faithful Forgiver of sinners.
 
What overwhelming beauty, what a mighty marvel you are Lord Jesus. I love you my rock and my redeemer.
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Loss is Gain

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 17, 2020
It was a beautiful, warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, so we went for a walk in the woods with my son Josh and his little family.
About halfway through, I noticed that one of my hearing aids was missing. Instantly I realized what had happened: I’d been carrying my smallest grandson on my shoulders, and when I lifted him off, the hearing aid was dislodged. It had fallen off at that point, or somewhat later.
My first reaction was natural, “Oh no!” for this was an expensive item. But the Holy Spirit immediately prompted me to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving: “Thank you, Lord, for allowing this. I pray that you’ll help me to find it, as you know where it is. And if I don’t find it, I’ll praise you anyway.” I then retraced the several hundred yards we’d covered, looking carefully among the leaves for the missing item, but to no avail.
As I was searching, the Spirit reminded me of how our car had been stolen shortly before we moved to Germany in 2009. I had looked for that, too, but again, to no avail. We’d hoped to sell it and buy a car in Germany, but, as you may remember, the Lord had something much greater in mind for us.
He not only supplied a car for free through our new friends, Dr. Chris and Melanie, but they also paid for the insurance, taxes, repairs and all our fuel for the whole 3.5 years we were there!
But much more importantly, the Lord gave opportunity to share the gospel with Dr. Chris, answering all his questions, so that near the end of our time there, he came to Christ. That was certainly worth losing my 15-year-old rusty car for!
So, what does God have in store through this loss? I don’t know yet, but we shall see!
I returned to join my family, again looking carefully as I retraced my steps and then we all looked again as we walked back home–but no hearing aid.
Each fruitless search was another chance to trust God in praise. He certainly knows where that hearing aid is, but, has chosen not to show me. I don’t know what He intends to do with this, but I can trust Him to know and to reveal it at the right time.
It is so good to relax in His love, to let go of what is temporal (it belonged to God anyway), to hold on to the truth of His goodness and grace, and to rise above the situation.
As it says in Hebrews 12:1-2, remembering that I am surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, I am told to lay aside every weight (sadness at the loss) and the sin that so easily entangles me (worry, fretting, anger) and run with patience and perseverance the race He has set before me, looking to Jesus (not to people, possessions or success), the Author and Finisher of my faith (He will carry me through).
Then, following His example, for the joy set before me (of being His child, of having Him as my Shepherd, of His protection and provision, of a certain future, of spending eternity with Him), I can endure whatever cross (loss) may come and despise whatever shame I may feel (for my failure to find it), knowing that I will be set down in heaven with Him.
What a freeing, empowering perspective! I encourage you to pray that passage for yourself every day for a month and see what God does! And I will wait to see His further purposes in this adventure of loss.
[Epilogue: I never did find the hearing aid, but the Lord provided money to pay for a new one in an interesting way. A friend was unable to sell his pickup truck, so I bought it to help him out, then was able to resell it with enough profit to pay for both a new hearing aid, and a crown from my wife’s tooth! God has it all in hand, if we will only cooperate: “He who offers the sacrifice of praise, honors me, and opens the way that I may show him the salvation of the Lord.” Psalm 50:23]
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Lavish Love

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 17, 2020
 
 
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1
Because of your majestic and marvelous Character, Lord, your love is continuously poured out on us, we who are your lazy and willful sheep.
 
You are Love itself, you are faithful and forgiving, gracious and good, positive and pure. We do not deserve your love and protection, but you are insistent on having a warm and rich relationship with us, pouring your time, grace, care, protection and guidance into our lives 24/7.
I praise you, O my Lord of lavishness, my Rock of refuge, my Fortress of faithfulness, Defender of the defeated, my Shield of strength, my Tower of power, my Stronghold of safety.
 
As it says in Psalm 18:3 “I call to you, who are worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.” I praise you for your protection, glorify you for your deliverance, exalt you for your unbelievably wonderful grace at work in me each day.
You are Life, you are Light and you are Love. You are my King, my God, my Savior, my Deliverer and my Protector. You are worthy of praise, worthy of exaltation, worthy of obedience.
 
So, to you I bow down, to you I surrender, to you I give myself afresh. I lay down before you all my desires, my possessions, my plans, my preferences. I give you my will and take yours in its place.
May you be glorified in me today, may my responses flow, not from my puny natural thoughts and understanding, but from your great Heart, your wonderful Word and your immense Power.
 
May your Spirit overflow from my life onto all those around me so they, too, may taste of your goodness, and thereby may your Name be lifted up before all I meet this day. Amen.
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Amazing God!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 15, 2020
Praise be to you, my marvelous Lord and Shepherd, my King. I awake in the night, and find you there, watching over me. I awake in the morning and find you again, waiting with a freshly prepared new day to share with me.
You are faithful in your love, passionate in your care, gracious in your provision and persistent in your protection. I am like a feeble vine clinging to you, my solid, unshakable Rock.
 
As thoughts of evil threats come in the night, I can easily reject them by meditating on your presence and power as presented in Psalm 18.
You are the protector of the weak and the provider for the poor in spirit, so I can trust you, as I am both. Your Word caringly calms my churning thoughts, sweetly soothes my anxious soul, provides positive, encouraging perspective and safely shields me from Satan’s subtle subterfuge.
“I love you, O Lord, my strength” (Ps 18:1)—you have drawn me graciously into a rich and strong relationship with you, making yourself my Lord, pouring into my life your strength, sharing with me your power–even though you know I will at times miss use it, rebel, disobey and disbelieve, wounding your heart—but you continue on in your unquenchable mercy.
 
You are so gracious! You are faithful in the face of our faithlessness. You are good in the face of our rebellion. You are constant in the face of our unbelief. You are utterly other from us and I praise you for making yourself known, for seeking us out, for adopting us into your family. May we live today so as to bring honor to you.
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More on Context

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 14, 2020
Further thoughts on living in the context of God’s greatness
 
What a difference this context makes! Wow! To live with you, to live for you, to be your child, your ambassador, your herald, your workman, your messenger, your servant, your partner in work, your fellow heir, your brother, and in the end, your bride—what great and marvelous privileges.
 
You are a wonder, O God, all these gifts you have given to me although I am by nature your enemy, the one who rebelled against you for so many years, who is stubborn in selfishness, slow to learn, who gives you pain every day in my willfulness, my self-dependence, my trusting myself instead of you, in my grieving and quenching your Spirit. How great is your love, how great is your forgiveness, how great is your grace.
 
You, as my Savior-Shepherd, have now allowed a new difficulty (challenge, adventure) into my life. Looking at it from my perspective it is unwanted, painful and negative. But looking at it from your perspective, it is good thing.
 
You will give me the grace, not to just cope with it, but to more than triumph over and through it, to give you honor and glory through praise in the midst of it.
 
No human being could ever think up a God like you; you are too good to be true! And yet you are more than true as you are Truth itself: pure, clean, shining, solid, sure, unchanging.
 
You are the only One to be trusted fully. So, we glorify you, we lift you up in praise, we rejoice in you and in your making us your beloved children. Great are you, Lord and wonderful is your name.
 
Prayer: “Today may you be lifted up in my life, glorified in my living, exalted in my being–you who are my Lord Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of the universe, and Shepherd of my soul. Amen.”
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A Chance to Nurture Your First Love for Jesus

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 14, 2020
“‘To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?’ says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” Isaiah 40:25, 26
 
Last night, Lord, I thought about context, and how important it is in our walk with you. When we fall into troubles, if all we see is that trouble, we are disappointed, frustrated and discouraged.
 
But if we have the larger context of you and the fact that you have great and wide plans in the situation, then our response is couched in your perspective and can bring glory to you.
 
The larger context is this: You are the Great, Glorious, Gracious Creator of all, the Breather of stars, the Source of the solar system, the Spinner of the earth and Bringer of the Dawn. You are the Sovereign God: Almighty, All-knowing, All-loving.
 
When your creatures rebelled against your goodness, you, in your rich grace and fathomless love, entered this sinful world, suffered greatly, died painfully, rose powerfully and bought us decisively back from slavery to sin.
 
We deserved Hell, but instead you gave us Heaven. You chose us before the foundation of the world, in spite of the great cost to you.
 
You called us, you cleansed, forgave and transformed us. You equipped us and assigned us to special service wherein we are empowered to do what has eternal importance.
 
You gave us significance and security in yourself. You made us your beloved children. You delight in us, rejoice in us, cherish us.
 
Everything that comes to us is filtered through your love and power. You give us opportunities in our difficulties to glorify you by faith. You give us the opportunity to be weak so that your power may be seen in our lives.
 
As the world seems to be falling apart, we can trust you, for you are moving history to a conclusion and taking us with you. Keep our eyes on you today, Lord, that we may live in the supernatural joy and peace you offer us as we trust in you.
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Out into the world

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 12, 2020
My senior year at Gettysburg was a busy one. I added some courses outside my history major and Russian minor. One I enjoyed in the first semester was introduction to philosophy.
 
“Now,” said the professor, “we’ve looked at the philosophy of David Hume, and commented on its strengths. It’s time to look at its weaknesses.”
 
The professor had done this with every philosophy we’d studied; he showed how each one failed in serious ways. It was good to see the strengths and the weaknesses, but there was a growing sense that maybe there was no philosophy that was thoroughly trustable.
 
In the last class for the semester the professor made an announcement, “For your final exam, I will ask you to write your own philosophy of life. Think about all the philosophies we have studied, their strengths, but more importantly their weaknesses. I want you to try and design a philosophy for yourself which will avoid the pitfalls we’ve seen.”
 
“Now that’s an exam I’ll enjoy,” I thought. “It will force me to do just what I need to do, establishing a basis for how to live my life.”
 
When the exam day came I wrote the first line of my philosophy, “My purpose for being on the earth is to help other people.” The rest of my exam paper I filled with reasons explaining why this was the best philosophy I could come up with.
 
“This is something I can get excited about,” I thought. What I didn’t realize, and what my professor didn’t tell me, is that helping other people is not a philosophy, it is a goal, and even then only a valid one if I were actually successful in helping others.
In the second semester of my senior year I was looking ahead to life after graduation. However, I could see no clear path to take me forward, only a tightrope of theory stretching to the horizon. All the comfortable, safe walls of childhood and school would soon be gone, and I would have to try to somehow keep my balance on this narrow span in an uncertain world.
 
I comforted myself with the thought that at least now I had a philosophy: helping people. I began to look for ways to implement this.
 
At a job fair on campus I was drawn to the Peace Corps booth. Being a farm boy, I thought about going to India to help the farmers there be more productive. I even went so far as to apply and a representative from the Peace Corps soon called me.
 
“I see on your application that you’ve had asthma since your childhood,” he said. “This is a problem. We’ll train you, send you over to India and in six months the dust will disable you. No, you are too big a risk. Sorry.”
 
Disappointed, but relieved at the same time—what knowledge or expertise did I really have to share with Indian farmers anyway—I cast about for some other avenue of helping people. And God was about to help me.
“Here, have some more potatoes,” Diane said while her two children watched me with wide eyes. Diane’s husband, Rip, a friend from my home church, was working on his doctorate in history in Washington D.C. and had invited me down from Gettysburg for a visit.
 
He paused in his eating. “So what did the Peace Corps do with your application?” He asked.
 
“They turned me down because I had asthma. They said that I wouldn’t make it in India.” I answered before taking another bite.
 
“Do you have any other plans?” asked Rip
 
“No, but I want to find some work where I can help people,” I replied.
 
Rip wiped his mouth with his napkin before speaking. “I was talking with a friend of mine recently who works for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. You know, the part of the government that takes care of Native Americans. He said that they are short of teachers this year and would even take applicants without a teaching degree…as long as they could pass the National Teachers’ Exam.”
 
“Really?” My voice betrayed my interest, my growing excitement. The BIA worked in Alaska. I’d always wanted to go there, maybe this was my chance!
 
“And how could I apply?” I asked.
 
“I’ll give you my friend’s phone number. He can get you the application and tell you how to get an appointment to take the exam,” replied Rip.
 
“Have some more ham,” said Diane.
 
It was late June when I drove to the University of Connecticut to take the National Teachers’ Exam. I found the proper building and was directed into a classroom where about 50 others were waiting in line to be registered. Then, we were seated and the exam papers were distributed.
 
I began working my way through it. “Boy, this is not hard at all!” I thought. “It’s just common sense.” A bit further on in the test my eyebrows went up in surprise. I read the question again about why putting a jar over a candle would make the flame go out. The only answer that was somewhat correct said it didn’t have enough air.
 
“Look at that,” I thought, “they don’t even mention the need for oxygen!”
Then I came to the section on philosophies and theories of education. The names and descriptions meant nothing to me, so I decided to leave all those questions blank.
 
The test took about 2 hours and I left unsure of how I had done. Other than the philosophy section, I was reasonably confident that I’d been pretty successful, but what the overall score might be, well, I’d have to wait and see.
 
“In the meantime,” I thought, “I’ll get ready and make my way to Alaska so I’ll be in place when the BIA offers me a job.”
Picture: on the BSA 25 I’d bought from Dad.
 
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