It is a cool morning. The kind that makes you desire the sun and embrace the aroma of the sky. The clouds hang lazily in the calming breeze. You hear the sheep nearby with the gentle “Bah” of normalcy.

Suddenly, your moment is interrupted. The herd seems more agitated than before. The unrest is surrounding the camp of peace. The unrest soon grows to chaos and utter despair is heard from your sheep. Unexpectedly, the chaos stops and a calm returns; but only the calm that animals embrace. Your spirit insists, “Something is not right.”

In the quiet of the moment you witness the fruition of your restless spirit. A lion has a sheep in his mouth retreating to the brush; confident that he has acquired his daily meal. Without thought you grab your staff and run toward the danger. As you run you try to devise a plan to retrieve the now frantic sheep, but the plan doesn’t come.

Your faith in God has always seen you through situations, but no situation has ever appeared with the danger of this one. Still, your job is to protect your flock. No matter the consequences, you are their only hope.

Running up to the lion you strike him in the back. He is startled and drops the sheep. In his confusion you rescue the sheep and begin to run, but the lion will not give up his meal so easily. He turns and attacks but you step aside and grab his mane; with one fell blow you cut his throat with you knife. The lion falls lifeless and bloody, but you escape unharmed. Saved by the faith you have in God; your Protector.

That must have been one of the scenes of David as he smote the lion to protect his flock. David told the story to King Saul as he made his plea to confront the giant Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:32-36 says:

David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.  

Have you ever been in a situation in which you thought you might have been hurt or even killed? But nothing happened; not a scratch. Your Angel is watching over you.