My word for April 17 is SHADOW
“I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, And
what can be the use of him is more than I can see. He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; And
I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.” I loved this poem, “My Shadow” when I was little. I can still hear my mom’s voice
reciting it to me. When the girls
were little I would say it with them also. I will never forget when Katie was little. My dad and I were
walking around the block with Katie and Lauren. I can still see Katie in her little flowered bubble with her
Nike high tops with a bow clasped in her curl on the top of her head. All of a sudden she started screaming
and grabbing onto our legs. At
first Dad and I couldn’t figure out what she was scared of. Then we realized when she was
positioned correctly with the sunlight making a shadow she would scream. She was scared of her shadow.
A shadow if an area where direct light from a light source
cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. The sun causes many objects to have shadows at certain times
of the day. Our shadow is an image
of us, not a perfect image but resembling our shape. You can’t trick your shadow, wherever you go there it
is. With a shadow there is no delay. You jump your shadow jumps. When in direct sunlight during a hot
summer day we take refuge somewhere in the shade. The shadow of a tree brings us protection from the direct
rays.
We should live in God’s shadow. To the Israelites a place of shade was considered a
blessing. It was often taken as a
symbol of God’s protection from the enemy. In the Bible the Hebrew word for “shadow” is used twelve
times (image). It is a type of
God’s guarding presence. I can envision
God spreading his arms and casting a shadow on us and saying to Satan, “Stay
away from my child, I will not allow you to bring harm, my shadow is their
armor protecting them from your vile ways”. Being God’s shadow is our refuge. I can also see where God is always in
our shadow, following us, never leaving us. Hanging behind us, tapping on our shoulder and saying,
“Don’t do that”. No matter what
angle you want to take whether it is being God’s shadow or God being our shadow,
the truth is God is always with us.
He is either shielding us from the sunlight or reminding us of what road
we should take.
Dear Lord You are our refuge and strength. We know we should follow You with every
step we take. We want You living
in our shadow guiding us down this path of 2012. Assist us in always coming to You with everything we are struggling
with. You lead us we will follow
being your shadow.
Lamentations 4:20 New
International Version (NIV)
20 The LORD’s anointed, our very life
breath,
was caught in their traps.
We thought that under his shadow
we would
live among the nations.
Psalm 17:8 NIV
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.
Isaiah 25:4-5 NIV
4 You have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade
from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a
wall 5 and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of
foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the
ruthless is stilled.
http://www.icr.org/article/4239/
Institute for Creation Research, God’s Shadow, Henry Morris, PHD
http://www.gracegems.org/SERMONS2/hall_shadow.htm,
The Shadow of the Almighty, Newman Hall, November 27, 1867
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