You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall … – Isaiah 25:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 28, 2013): Isaiah 25

In Frank Herbert’s Epic interpretation of the future, Dune, some people are equipped with personal shields to aid in their protection. The idea of the shield is to protect a person from attack, especially from and an attack that used energy weapons. Essentially the shields are acting as an invisible suit of armor. The original idea of a shield probably originated with the writers of the television series “Star Trek: The Original Series.” Just past the halfway mark of the first season, the writers introduced a shield that could protect a space station (although with little success as the space station is easily destroyed.) A few episodes later the idea of a shield was introduced to the mobile starships of the series. They became an important level of protection during firefights between opposing starships. To attack a ship, first you had to deplete the shield that protected the ship.

But it was Frank Herbert that imagined a shield that could be used to protect a single person. In the Dune universe, the personal shield would change the way in which hand to hand combat is fought. The personal shield protects the person from ballistic and energy weapons. Even knives and swords cannot penetrate the shields, as long as they come in fast enough. In Frank Herbert’s imagining, an attack had to be slow if it was to penetrate the personal shield. But the person was essentially safe as long as the shield was in working order.

Isaiah praises God for all that he has done and once again he returns to one of the major themes of the Bible, God’s protection of the poor and the oppressed. And in Isaiah’s imagining, God becomes a personal shield of the individual who could find protection nowhere else in society. He is the strength that the poor and oppressed need when all the evil people want to do is to further their oppression. Even the heat and blast of the storms of the evil will in the end be defeated by the God who is our shield. And in Isaiah’s understanding, God’s protection will even  be extended to the strangers of society.

God has promised to be our shield and our refuge, an ever present help when trouble comes. And we still stand in need of that kind of protection.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah 26