Shield or Gun?

Today in chapel I was sharing a message with the preschoolers about God. Great subject by the way. The message was about how strong God is and I shared some descriptions from the Psalms. As I started the message, we played a little impromptu game of "charades". I pretended to be a soldier holding up a shield and I asked the kids to guess what it was. They shouted "stick", "gun" and a few answers that I couldn't exactly discern. None of them guessed shield. I suppose shield is a little dated for the images of warfare that our preschoolers see today. It caused me to think a little bit about the difference between a stick, a gun and a shield. I realize that making these comparisons puts me into the category of military strategist - so stay with me. If I have a stick or a gun I can use those for an offensive attack. If I have a shield, I have to trust in it to defend and protect me. In life, it is a natural instinct to want to protect ourselves. On the other hand, it takes intentional cultivation to learn to trust in God. I would say that we tend to shout "stick" and "gun" to God a lot more than we thank Him for being our shield.