Part One: God Has Many Roles

“For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”
Psalm 84:11

Anything you can think of can serve multiple purposes.

For example, in grade school we had the big bottles of white Elmer’s glue…remember those days?
– The main purpose of the glue was to stick dry macaroni, beads, cotton balls, and other random floor sweepings to a piece of paper to make “fridge art”.
– Another purpose of the glue bottles was to hold the papers down when the fridge art was placed in front of an open window to dry.
– A third purpose (my favorite) was to smear glue all over my palm and let it dry. Then I’d gross out my friends pretending to peel off my skin.
– For some kids, the glue served as a thick, creamy spread to be enjoyed as a tasty mid-morning snack.

For Christians, we have a God who serves more than one role and purpose. He is more than an “overseer of the cosmos”, and far more than just a brilliant, creative force of mystical energy. He is the glue holding everything together. (Colossians 1:16-17)

The Psalmist highlights two roles here: God is a sun AND a shield.

The sun is all-consuming.
God himself is described as “a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29)
That means He has the power to completely destroy whatever He wants, and can do so effortlessly…sort of like what would happen if a satellite flew off track into the sun. It would be a quick end and NOTHING would remain of it.

The shield protects from danger.
The same God that can destroy instantly can also protect us from destruction…and He does so every single day.
God can unleash His destructive rage like an angry grizzly bear…and in the next moment He can turn and shield us like a mama bear protects her precious cubs.
Or, He can easily do BOTH simultaneously.

That makes Him personal.
That means He considers us.
He knows what we need and when we need it.
If He was an angry God all the time
we’d be toast. Lights out.

He’s not mean. He loves us.
But we need to recognize His multiple roles and respect them all…respect His power and ability to destroy, and thank God that He still shields us from danger.
Stay glued to God and stuck on Christ.