The Encirclement of Protection

I’m going to date myself with this, but here goes. When I was a kid, there was no TV, just radio. When people wanted to see movies, they went to the movie theater. There was a theater a block from my home and I went there often for movie entertainment. The cost of admission was 35 cents for adults and 10 cents for children. And for that price, you got two feature length movies (called a “double-feature”), a couple of cartoons, and an installment of a “serial” such as Buck Rogers or The Lone Ranger - four full hours for one price!

I like to watch the American Movie Classics channel on TV once in a while for nostalgic value. Much of the “modern” stuff on television today is just plain junk. A while back, I was watching a old cowboy and indian movie. The indians had raided a wagon train and you know how the action goes: the wagons were quickly formed into a circle for protection, and the indians rode round and round attempting to wear down the resistance of the settlers in the wagon train. The men of the wagon party placed themselves between the gaps in the wagons and somewhat underneath the wagons to form a circle of protection for the women and children who were in the center of the circle.

If the men were good shots and had enough ammunition, the circle of protection sometimes held up and the indians gave up and went away. But if the circle of protection broke down, all was lost.

I began to think about God’s circle of protection for His children - you and I. We have Jesus Christ living eternally within us in a union of Spirit to human spirit. His Presence in our “wagon train” of life is an invincible protection for us. No external evil elements can defeat Him and break the encirclement of protection. We have this assurance of His power. But then…. how do “bad” things happen to Christian children of God? And why?

No action can touch us except with the Father’s knowledge and by His permission. It may be the sin of man that originates the action, and therefore the thing itself cannot be said to be the will of God; but by the time it reaches us, it has become God’s will for us, and must be accepted as directly from His hands.

No wild indians, no man or army of men, no power on earth or in heaven, can touch that soul which is abiding in Christ without first passing through His encircling presence and receiving the seal of His permission. If God be for us, it cannot matter who may be against us. Nothing can truly disturb or harm us when God sees that it is best for us, and Christ stands aside a little to let it pass.

An earthly parent’s care for his helpless child is a feeble illustration of this. If the child is in its father’s arms, nothing can touch it without that father’s consent, unless he is too weak to prevent it. And even if this should be the case, he suffers the harm first in his own person before he allows it to reach his child. If an earthly parent would care this way for his little helpless one, how much more will our heavenly Father, whose love is infinitely greater, care for us who are born again as children in His eternal family!

God takes note of the minutest matters that can affect the lives of His children. God regulates them all according to His own perfect will, LET THEIR ORIGIN BE WHAT THEY MAY!

The instances of this are numberless. Take Joseph. What could have seemed more apparently on the face of it to be the result of sin, and utterly contrary to the will of God, than the action of his brethren in selling him into slavery? And yet Joseph, in speaking of it, said, “As for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good.” It was undoubtedly sin in Joseph’s brethren, but by the time it had reached Joseph it had become God’s will for him and was, in truth, the greatest blessing of his whole life. And thus we see God can make all things, even the sins of others, “work together for good to those who love Him.”

Many Christians have difficulty in living the life of faith on account of the situations that seem to them to control nearly everything about them. They tend to question whether God can really be in everything or not.

To live the human life that the Father wants for His children, we must come to a divine awareness of not only Christ living in us in a living union with our human spirit, but of Christ’s glorious encircling Presence surrounding us and protecting us from anything which can TRULY harm us. Picture as you can the wild, encircling indians, fighting armies, wicked men, raging beasts, storms and pestilences, sin and suffering of every kind, all outside of the encircling Presence. And nothing, absolutely nothing, can touch you except as the Presence divides a little to let the evil through.

And even the small and annoying things of life can pass through only as the Presence parts the circle a little. Not a mean look, nor a harsh word, nor any petty trial of any kind can affect you, unless Christ’s enveloping Presence opens the circle a little. to let it in.

We must come to see that life comes to us, day by day and hour by hour, directly from the hand of God, let the agencies which seem to control it be what they may.

I am convinced that this is the only clue to a completely restful life. Nothing else will enable a Christian to live only in the present moment, as we are commanded to do, and to take no anxious thought for the morrow. Nothing else will take all the risks and “supposes” out of a Christian’s life and enable him to say, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Under God’s care, we run no risks!

There is the story of a poor black woman who earned a precarious living by daily labor, but who was a joyous, triumphant Christian. “Ah, Nancy,” said a gloomy Christian lady to her one day, who almost disapproved of her constant cheerfulness, and yet envied it, “Ah, Nancy, it is all well enough to be happy now, but I should think the thoughts of your future would sober you. Only suppose, for instance, that you should have a spell of sickness, and be unable to work; or suppose your present employers should go out of business, and no one else could give you work; or suppose. . .”
“Stop!” cried Nancy, “I never supposes. The Lord is my Shepherd, and I knows I shall not want. And, honey,” she added to her gloomy friend, “it’s all dem supposes as is makin’ you so miserable. You’d better give dem all up and JUST TRUST THE LORD.”

Nothing else but this seeing God in everything will make us loving and patient with those who annoy and trouble us. They will then be to us only the instruments for accomplishing God’s tender and wise purposes toward us, and we will even find ourselves at last inwardly thanking them for the blessings they bring.

Nothing else will completely put an end to all complaining and rebelling thoughts. Christians often feel at liberty to complain against man, when they would not dare to complain against God. But if our Father permits a trial to come, it must be because the trial is the sweetest and best thing that could happen to us, and we can accept it with thanks as coming from God’s own hand.

This does not mean, however, that we must like or enjoy the trial itself, but that we must like God’s will in the trial. It is not hard to do this when we have learned to know that His will is the will of love from the Father to His own CHILD.

Along with this awareness of the encircling protection of God through the indwelling Christ comes an ease of forgiveness of others. No matter what their motives personally, what they did to us has only happened because Christ opened the encirclement a little bit to bring us into some good. God knows our life’s needs much better than we do and we do not have the “big picture”. And our very act of forgiveness may be the opening to God that the offender needs.

This way of seeing our Father in everything makes life a glorious adventure, and gives a rest of heart and, more than that, a happiness of spirit.

GOD IS SURE TO HAVE HIS OWN WAY CONCERNING THOSE WHO ABANDON THEMSELVES TO HIM IN COMPLETE TRUST.

When the “indians” are circling your “wagon”, remember that the circle of Christ‘s protection cannot be defeated. Christ may part that circle occasionally. His purpose is not to allow YOU to be defeated - but rather to show you that the enemy is ALREADY defeated! The enemy cannot truly harm you, but whatever temporary damage he causes drives you to a greater awareness of God and His good purposes.

He who sides with God in EVERYTHING cannot fail to win every encounter. And whether the result shall be joy or sorrow, failure or success, death or life, we may under all circumstances join in with Paul’s shout of victory,

“Thanks be to God Who ALWAYS causes us
to triumph IN CHRIST!”

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