Protection

It is finally summer, and with that most of us know to wear sunscreen when we go outdoors. If we don’t sunscreen, then we can end up badly burned. When I think about being badly burned, I think of the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel 3:19-25 tells the story,

Then Nebuchadnezzar was furious with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and his attitude toward them changed. He ordered the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual and commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace. So these men, wearing their robes, trousers, turbans and other clothes, were bound and thrown into the blazing furnace. The king’s command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar leaped to his feet in amazement and asked his advisers, “Weren’t there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?” They replied, “Certainly, Your Majesty.”  He said, “Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbound and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.”

Once you read the story, you see that God clearly saved the three of them from the furnace. And for this reason, I can make a comparison to God and the sunscreen we wear. They are both meant to protect us. God can protect us from so much more than just the sun’s UV rays. There is a sense of dual accomplishment when God protects you like sunscreen. When you protect yourself with sunscreen, you are blocking the UV rays, but you are also help prevent skin cancer. When God protects you, he is also using the protection to glorify his Kingdom.

But they both don’t protect every time you need them too. If you don’t cover your body completely with sunscreen, you find that you can get a weird burn pattern, or if you don’t reapply sunscreen then you still get burned. God also doesn’t protect you 24/7. He allows things in our lives to “burn” us, but he is doing that so that we may grow. If he always protects you, there will be no chance to learn and to grow. Everyone of us need a good amount of Godly “burn.” God knows what he need, and he would not “burn” you for the fun of it. There is a purpose behind it. Where just normal sunscreen just leaves you burn with no benefits. (At least for me. I burn then I turn white again. I don’t really tan.)

The last connection is that you need to put on sunscreen every day, to keep from burning. You need to put God on every day too. If you don’t have a strong relationship with Jesus, and if you don’t connect every day, then you can “burn” more easily, because your protection is weak. When you build a strong connection to your protection, then you are less likely to get “burned.”

As summer continues, I pray that you put on both kinds of protection, God for day to day life; sunscreen, for when you are going out in the sun.

Writer Note – I came up with this topic when I kept getting badly burned every day I was outside, for my putting on little sunscreen. One day I just did a stripe up my arms, and legs, and it is clear where I put sunscreen on and where I didn’t