Do Christians Still Receive Divine Protection?

Do Christians Still Receive Divine Protection?

In the days of the Old Testament and even when Jesus walked the earth, the Jews believed that if you had a relationship with God and you weren't a perpetual and unrepentant breaker of the law, you would have a hedge-like protection or a protective fence by which God divinely kept you safe and allowed you to prosper and be kept from tragedy in your life. They also believed that if you were poor, afflicted with chronic illness or disease, if you were blind or lame, it was because you were either a sinner or your parents were sinners of such great proportion that God saw fit not only to take His divine protection away, He also saw to it that you suffered by inflicting these tragedies upon you and even your children if your sins were bad enough. There are many who believe that is still true today. God brings killer storms and other tragedies into peoples live because of such sin as retribution.

If you look in Psalm 91, you find a scripture that supports the theological doctrine of Divine protection.

Psalm 91:1-16 NASB

1 One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” 3 For it is He who rescues you from the net of the trapper and from the deadly plague. 4 He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may take refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and wall. 5 You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; 6 Of the plague that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that devastates at noon. 7 A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. 8 You will only look on with your eyes and see the retaliation against the wicked. 9 For You have made the Lord my refuge, The Most High, your dwelling place. 10 No evil will happen to you, Nor will any plague come near your tent.11 For He will give His angels orders concerning you, To protect you in all your ways. 12 On their hands they will lift you up, So that you do not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will walk upon the lion and cobra, You will trample the young lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he has loved Me, I will save him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. 15 He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16 I will satisfy him with a long life, And show him My salvation.”

And then if we look at the story of Job we see that God had a fence of protection around Job’s life as well as all that he had and owned because Job was a righteous man devoted to honoring and glorifying God. But to prove His faith in Job’s righteous and loving heart toward God to Satan, God removed that protection from Job’s life.

Job 1:6-12 New American Standard Bible

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” 8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But reach out with Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.” 12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

Satan then pursued and persecuted Job with calamity after calamity in an effort to invoke Job to curse God. Job loses some of the most important things in his life including his income and his children. Still Job refuses to curse God and remains faithful in believing in God’s just sovereignty and goodness.