This is truly a monumental chapter. It has been called the chapter of the famous firsts, and that may be a rather trivial way of looking at it, but it is certainly true.
Notice that God does not say, ‘and I will give you a great reward.’ He says, ‘I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward.’ Never forget that: God is our shield and God is also our reward. Christ is our reward even now, let alone in the eternal hereafter. Nothing can happen to us that God does not permit and everything that he allows to happen to us, even if it is troublesome and difficult, will lead to our eternal salvation. Nothing can harm us, or harm our salvation.
‘Fear not’ is a message to all of us. Christian people, believers in the Lord, should never be excessively troubled. We are human beings and we have got fears and anxieties. We may frequently be alarmed and troubled, but we should never be excessively so, because this is the promise of God to every one of us: ‘Fear not, I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward.’ What has he given us? He has given us understanding minds; he has given new life and a new nature. He gives consolation; he answers all our prayers. He is our shield and are exceeding great reward. Abram has previously given way to plans of his own, and come up with a very human and defective, even dishonest, solution to a problem, and there was no need for him to do that, because God was his shield. He will waver again, in the very near future, and these words ‘I am thy shield’ are designed to hold him. So we should never fear or worry excessively. And if anyone of us find ourselves worried out of our wits, deeply concerned, so distraught that we cannot think about anything else, then we have let it go too far. We have got to come into the presence of God and lay the burden upon him. Fears are natural, apprehensions and anxieties, but they should never be allowed in us to become excessive. ‘Fear not’, the promise is ours; ‘I am thy shield’, and what a shield is the Lord!