January 19

For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity. — Ps 84:11 BSB

Isn’t the sun made to shine? That is its nature. And so it is with the Sun of Righteousness—He shines. Does the natural sun lose any of its light by shining? No, in fact, the more it shines, the more light it seems to have. For ages, the sun has shone as brightly as it does today. Its beams were as glorious before we were born as they will be long after our eyes have returned to dust. The sun has ripened countless harvests, fed millions, and sustained life for generations, yet it shows no sign of exhaustion or decay.

Similarly, does Jesus lose anything by shining His light, life, love, and grace upon us? Not at all. In fact, the more He gives, the more glorified He becomes. The more we look to Him as the Sun, allowing Him to shine into our souls, the more we glorify Him as the Sun of Righteousness. In the morning, we open the shutters or raise the blinds to let the natural sunlight into a dark room. In the same way, when we open our hearts by divine grace, we push back the shutters of doubt and fear, and raise the blinds of unbelief. In doing so, we allow the light of Christ to flood in, glorifying Him by receiving from His fullness.

It is good to sometimes look beyond our doubts, fears, and the trials that weigh on our minds. If we focus too much on our sins and failures, we risk falling into despair. We may look back on our inconsistencies and lack of fruitfulness until we are ready to give up hope. This is like someone wandering in a dark room, tripping over furniture, and eventually sitting down in despair, saying, “There is no light here.” But if we open the shutters, the sun will shine into the room.

So too with our souls. We may dwell on our shortcomings until we declare, “There is no light in my soul, there never was, and there never will be.” Yet, if we can throw back the shutters, we will see that the blessed Sun is still shining in the skies of heaven. Even the act of looking up, of focusing on Christ, brings a deep sense of peace and joy.

How comforting it is to use Christ as our Shield! Too often, we go into spiritual battles without holding this shield before us. But God has provided this shield for a reason—He knows that our enemies are too strong for us alone. Doubt, fear, darkness, despair, the law, and the accusations of a guilty conscience are enemies we cannot fight without Christ as our shield.

Imagine a soldier going into battle without any armor, leaving himself exposed to every weapon of the enemy. In the same way, we are defenseless against the law, the accusations of conscience, and the devil’s attacks if we do not hold Christ as our Shield. But when we hold up Christ against all these enemies, we can say, “Christ has died, and He died for me.” This shield absorbs the fiery darts that would otherwise pierce our souls, and they fall harmlessly, having already fallen on Jesus.