Shade… I have a new and deeper appreciation for it….
Never in my lifetime do I remember such intense heat. Maybe it’s been this hot and dry before….maybe I’m just old and soft now.
I have always loved sitting in the deep shade of the sweet gum tree in my back yard. I prune the limbs each year so that the limbs make an umbrella around where my swing and chairs sit. We have bird feeders and squirrel feeders, a bird bath…invitations to share our shade.
When the hot sun beats down with intense heat, we look for something to put between it and us. We look for something to make a shadow for us to stand in, away from the direct sun light.
When life beats down with it’s own intensity, we again look for relief and escape.
Where do you go?
“…….LORD, you are my God. I will honor you. I will praise your name. You have been perfectly faithful. You have done wonderful things. …..You have been a place to hide when storms came. You have been a shade from the heat of the sun….” (Isa. 25:1,4)
“I look up to the hills. Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD. He is the Maker of heaven and earth.
He won't let my foot slip. He who watches over me won't get tired.
In fact, he who watches over me won't get tired or go to sleep.
The LORD watches over me. The LORD is like a shade tree at my right hand.
The sun won't harm me during the day. The moon won't harm me during the night.
The LORD will keep me from every kind of harm. He will watch over my life.
The LORD will watch over my life no matter where I go, both now and forever.”1 (Ps. 121:2-8 personalized by me )
Think you’ve been left out? Is the heat on? Can you not find the comfort of shade from the intense circumstances of your life?
Maybe this phrase I left out of verse one is the key….….“ A song for those who go up to worship the LORD.”
Do you only want the shade? Or do you enjoy and value the Maker of it?
Do you seek His Face? Or only the blessing of His Hand?
“God is serious business, take him seriously; He's put the earth in place and it's not moving. So let heaven rejoice, let earth be jubilant, and pass the word among the nations, "GOD reigns!"(1Ch. 16:30,31 The Message)
“For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods.
(1 Ch. 16:25NIV)
