Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psalm 91:1
I never thought about this until today, but "in the shadow" is a multi-dimensional image of the protection God offers those who revere and love Him. The first picture that comes to my mind when I read "...in the shadow of the Almighty" is that of a child, walking hand-in-hand with a parent, so close that anything that might threaten the child will have to take on the parent first. So there, big purple monster under the bed.
Yet some other thoughts occur to me about walking in a shadow:
- Things are not as visible in a shadow as they are in bright light.
- Things may look dark from inside a shadow.
God may allow us to go through some very confusing things as He's protecting us. Some of what we see may not be very encouraging. Sometimes we can't even quite tell if He's still there. At times the shadow may get much darker; at other times shards of light will break onto the path and things will seem clearer for a while.
The shadow is His. We don't control it. But to leave His shadow is to wander away from His intimate company, so who cares that we usually don't know what He's up to. As long as we are near enough to be in His shadow, He has us securely by the hand.
Father, thank You for keeping me safe in Your shadow as I abide in You. I may squirm and complain sometimes, when I don't understand what You're doing or where we're going. But I can feel the grasp of Your hand now. And it calms me.