Personal Protection Equipment
Protection for the NHS
Personal Protection Equipment also known as PPE is a phrase that we have heard a lot about during the Covid-19 pandemic. Up to the end of May the UK government has spent £1.9 billion on PPE
PPE is needed by anyone in close contact with people in hospitals, care homes and prisons. Even my chiropractor was wearing some this week when I had a treatment. I have heard that next week when hairdressers open again that they will have to wear some PPE when cutting our hair.
By the end of May the Government had bought: 164 million masks; 192 million aprons; 2.3 million gowns; 711 million gloves.
PPE not 100% effective
The trouble is that PPE, while offering some protection, did not guarantee absolute safety. It was also reported in the press that many health care professionals felt that there was not enough PPE and that they were constantly in danger.
My own foster daughter, who works in a dementia home, said that many times they had to go into work without PPE even when they had patients who tested positive for the virus.
It is reckoned that by the end of May over 200 NHS workers had died just because they did their job of caring for the sick and vulnerable and came into contact with the disease.
Even as restrictions start to lift the latest Government guidelines say that we must all wear masks when we go on public transport. When we go into some places they are taking your temperature as a way of trying to protect anyone from contracting or spreading the virus.
An impenetrable shield
I want to share with you a different idea, related to PPE, which I found in the Book of Psalms. This is what it says:
The Lord is my Strength and my impenetrable Shield; my heart trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him.
Imagine how much the NHS workers would like an impenetrable shields?
It is widely accepted that David wrote this Psalm. Some believe that he wrote it while he was being persecuted out of jealousy by King Saul. Imagine the situation that David finds himself in. David had nowhere to turn. He had left his family at the palace. He often slept in caves or on the hillside. He had trouble getting food and all the time he had to look over his shoulder in case someone was out to fire an arrow into him or lunge at him with a spear.
He could find nothing to comfort him anywhere because the highest authority in the land – King Saul – wanted him dead. How was he to get protection? Maybe we can find an answer to that in another verse in the Bible.
Be strong in the Lord be empowered through your union with Him; draw your strength from Him that strength which His boundless might provides.
In ancient times the shield was used more for defence. They were made from hardened cow hide and some were even strengthened with metal studs. They were used in close personal combat – a real shield like our current PPE shields that are needed in close contact.
The wisest man who ever lived called God “…a shield to those who put their trust in Him.” (Proverbs 30:5)
Self-reliance is not the answer
If there is one thing that is highly valued today its self-reliance. We hate to become dependent on anyone or to rely on someone else for help.
We tend to value the capacity in others to stand on their own two feet; to have the where-with-all to weather the storms; to adapt, to conquer problems and obstacles that life throws at us. We hope to raise our children to be independent, self-sufficient and to learn how to stand on their own two feet.
Yet this verse (Proverbs 30:5 above) suggests that our strength and ability to cope comes not from our own resilience but from dependence on God.
Another deadly virus?
The trouble is that we are not just facing physical, educational, job and relationship problems. We also have the global deadly disease of sin and its results to contend with. We need more protection than either we or the Government can provide.
David finally realises that in his running from King Saul, that he needs God and so our Psalm begins with the words:
To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit. Hear my cry for mercy as I call to you for help, as I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place…
David has hit rock-bottom.. He is desperate. The only one left to turn is to God.
Personal Protection Officer and a Shield
The good news is that we do have a Shield and Personal Protection Officer. God offers to be our strength and our shield.
How can I say this with confidence? Because we have God’s promise that He will hear our cry for help.
David must’ve felt the same sort of confidence in God’s faithfulness toward his children because he ends Psalm 28 this way:
Praise be to the LORD , for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.
No need to be afraid
Our hope, our good news is that God is interested in being involved in your life.
He offers you free PPE – not from the Covid19 virus but from dying because of catching the sin virus.
The Apostle Paul writes:
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
David discovered this through the many hardships that he endured throughout his life. He was able to say in another one of his Psalms:
For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted, relied on and been confident in His holy name. I firmly believe that if God was there for David then He will be there for us. He said to one man- as I was with Moses so I will be with you.
Even before we faced the deadly disease of sin God had a strategy and had put in place a comprehensive rescue package so that just as Covid-19 is being stamped out all around the world – ONE DAY sin will be stamped out forever and we will not need PPE of any kind.
