My Only Defense
“After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Genesis 15:1
The longer I live, the more I see how truly incapable I am of defending myself. With every passing day, I am more convinced that in me (that is, in my flesh) there dwells no good thing. With Job I say: “if I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse”. If God were to enter into judgment with me, I would not be justified in His sight. Even the “good” things I do, possess sufficient evidence of my own self-righteousness so as to potentially provoke God to wrath. I have learned that the purest of my motives do not agree with the righteousness which is of the Law. I cannot ascend into the hill of the Lord by my own merits, nor can I stand in His holy place, because my hands are not clean, my heart is not pure, I have lifted up my soul unto vanity, and sworn deceitfully. With Peter, there have been times I have told Jesus that I would never be offended, and even went so far as to tell Him that, if I should die with Him, I would in no wise deny Him. But then I heard the rooster crow.
However, I see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man, including me. I see that He is the end of the Law for righteousness to all who believe. I see that Jesus has delivered us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us. I see that God made Jesus to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
I see God's throne of grace, and Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intersession for us. And I say – He is my shield, and my exceeding great reward. His perfect righteousness is my only confession; my only defense.