“He who counts the stars and calls them by their names is in no danger of forgetting his own children.”

— Charles Spurgeon

In today’s devotional reading https://hope14me.org/weekly-devotion/ I love David’s words to the Father: “You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your gentleness made me great” (Ps. 18:35). The scene in Zechariah 9 as previously read is an unveiling of who God has been all along. He is all-powerful yet gentle in His core. He has made Himself one with us. When we choose to follow Jesus even when it hurts, it moves His heart. He is not aloof or distant but is vulnerable and makes Himself available to us, just as we make ourselves available to one another. It is hard to comprehend that He is moved by our love and touched by our feelings.

Psalm 18 tells us more of what God can mean to our life. We are reminded that:

• God is a rock. He is a firm foundation upon which one can build his life. A rock foundation that a house is built upon will withstand whatever is faced (storms, winds, and even fire and floods). A life obedient to God’s commands, preserved for us in the Bible, will also allow one to handle what happens during their life.
• He is a fortress. A fortress is a safe place for those to live within its high and sturdy, protecting walls and gates. God protects His own just as do those walls. No one can harm a Christian unless God allows it, and if that is the case, it is most likely for our good and spiritual growth.
• He is a deliverer. God will rescue His own from harm or danger. He also will save those trusting Christ as Saviour from a horrible Hell where so many will, unfortunately, spend their eternity.
• He is my God. With so many under His safekeeping, His love and care for us are still very personal.
• When the world beats one down, God gives us the strength to face what He allows us to experience.
• When so many others may have forsaken us or not been able to help us in our time of need, we can trust God never to fail us.
  “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5
• As a shielding buckler protected a soldier from the arrows and fiery darts hurled at him, so will God keep us safe from the attacks of our enemies.
  “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” Ephesians 6:16
• God is the power that can deliver us from what is faced in this lifetime.
• As a high tower allows its sentries to see approaching dangers, so God can see what awaits us in our future.
• God is a necessity in one’s life. He is all one needs to face what he will in this lifetime.

He reached down His hand from above me; He held me.
    He lifted me from the raging waters.
¹⁷ He rescued me from my strongest enemy,
    from all those who sought my death,
    for they were too strong.
¹⁸ They came for me in the day of my destruction,
    but the Eternal was the support of my life.
¹⁹ He set me down in a safe place;
    He saved me to His delight; He took joy in me

Psalm 18:16-19