Protected by an Unseen Hand

Scripture: Psalm 121:7–8 (KJV)

“The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”

Personal Reflection

We will never know in this life how many dangers God has prevented.

We remember the accidents that happened, but not those from which we were unknowingly preserved. We remember the doors that opened, but rarely recognize the closed doors that protected us.

Providence includes God's protection.

This does not mean Christians are promised lives without suffering. Scripture plainly teaches otherwise. God's people experience sickness, persecution, disappointment, loss, and death.

Providential protection means something deeper: nothing can reach the child of God apart from the wise government of his heavenly Father.

Think of the events God may have redirected without your knowledge.

A delay may have kept you from danger.

A relationship that ended may have prevented greater sorrow.

An opportunity that vanished may have redirected your entire future.

A prayer God seemed to deny may have been one of His greatest acts of protection.

We naturally judge circumstances according to what we can see now. Providence teaches us to recognize that God sees consequences we cannot see.

Therefore, a closed door is not necessarily divine rejection.

Sometimes it is divine protection.

Faith learns to thank God not only for what He gives but also for what He withholds.

There are undoubtedly prayers we once desperately wanted answered differently for which, looking backward, we can now say, “Thank God He did not give me what I asked.”

God's unseen hand has been present far more often than we realize.

One day we may discover that some of His greatest mercies were dangers we never knew existed.

Contemplation

Can I identify something I once considered a disappointment that I now recognize may have been God's protection?

Puritan Quote

John Flavel wrote:

“Sometimes providences, like Hebrew letters, must be read backward.”

Prayer

Lord, thank You for dangers seen and unseen from which You have preserved me. Help me trust Your wisdom when You close doors I desperately wanted opened. Amen.

Application

Recall one past disappointment that ultimately protected or redirected you. Thank God specifically for His unseen hand.