Under the Shadow of God

 

 

Scripture

Psalm 91:1-2. 14-16

¹ You who live in the shelter of the Most High,
    who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,^[a]
2 will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
    my God, in whom I trust.”

¹⁴ Those who love me, I will deliver;
    I will protect those who know my name.
¹⁵ When they call to me, I will answer them;
    I will be with them in trouble,
    I will rescue them and honor them.
¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy them,
    and show them my salvation.    (NRSV)

 

Devotion

 Recently, I had the opportunity to pause while taking a mid-day walk on bridge over a pond.  At first, the water below me seemed empty of everything but rocks and leaves.  But as I gazed into the water, I was startled by large shadows darting too and from across the bottom of the pond...shadows that looked suspiciously like miniature sharks  I looked at the water in puzzlement.  Then, my eyes began to perceive the tiny minnows swimming just beneath the water's surface.  The minnows' colors camouflaged them in a way that made them nearly invisible to the human eye.  But while the fish themselves may be hard, the shadows they cast loomed large on the mud and rocks below them.  Even the smallest of their movements seemed to dance in the sunlight.    Once I knew how to look, I could see minnows gracefully swimming about all over the place.

This moment made me pause and take stock of the ways we perceive God moving in our lives.  There have been times of trouble when I wanted obvious evidence that God was there for me.  In those moments, I wanted a voice to boom from the heavens and tell me that everything was going to be okay or a vision of angels to appear before me.   When those things didn't happen,  I have felt more than a little abandoned.  There has even been a time or time when I have raised my fist to the skies and railed, "God, where ARE you?  How could you leave me like this?!"  

But when the onslaught of despair has passed and I have take time to pause and truly look at my situation,  I have never failed to notice the ways God's  shadow has been hovering over me the entire time.  That shadow has moved and flitted about.  It has brought help in the form of other people.  It has brought me comfort in my grief and given the inner strength to carry on when the weight of the world felt crushing.  Though God may have remained mostly unseen, the Almighty has rescued me from every trouble and delivered me from evil.  All it took was me to pause and remember how to look for God through the Son's Light, and I could find proof of my Savior's presence all around me.

The next time you are in despair or wonder how God could have possibly left to face the situation you are in by yourself, I invite you to pause.  Breathe deeply.  And when you are ready, search your life for God's shadow.  Those shadows may come in the form of people.  Or resources.  Or an unexpected moment of peace.  No matter how still that shadow may be or how subtle it may seem at first, I promise that it is there.  The unseen God that hovers above you will continue to move in ways that deliver you from harm.And they day will come when--through the gift of the Son's light--you will clearly see all the shadowy ways God that has been moving about you.

 

Prayer

Faithful Deliverer, there is no better help to be found than that which comes from abiding in your shadow.  Help me see the ways you are moving in my life so that when I am trouble, I will still remember to trust in your steadfast care and praise your name my whole life long.