I walk every day for the good of my health, and to help clear my mind. It is nice to walk alone, but I treasure the walks with my husband. These days with the heat, I try to get my walks during the cool of early morning or evening. Just recently however, we were out walking in the heat of the afternoon sun. After walking for a spell, I commented on the heat and Don says, “why don’t you just walk in my shadow”. But his shadow was not big enough to provide shade for me. However, his comment immediately brought these words of a chorus to me:
I’m in the shadow of somebody bigger
and all the world’s power can’t pull us apart.
Jesus stands firm between me and my Father
and only my Father can look on the heart.
Your shadow can be quite versatile. It can be cast long, short or even just a small circle beneath you. It can be in front of you, behind you or on either side of you. One minute you can see your shadow yet if a cloud covers the sun it disappears for a moment. If you walk in the shadow of a building your shadow is lost in the greater one. Nevertheless, despite what we see in Peter Pan, the Disney Movie, your shadow cannot be detached from you and have a life all it’s own.
Shadows can appear to be menacing, especially if you are tenting and a shadow is magnified against the wall of your tent. They can be entertaining, just a flashlight and a wall can keep a child entertained for hours. They can be informative, got a sundial?
The proportions of your shadow depend on two things: the presence of light and the position of the same.
Getting back to the chorus I mentioned, we are blessed to be in the shadow of somebody bigger. This is not a menacing shadow, but a comforting presence. Psalm 91:1 says “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
This shadow that we live in is not some abstract shape around us, it is interactive with us.
James 1:17 reminds us that “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
He is the source of light and therefore His shadow is always with us, even in the darkest of circumstances, and the loneliest of days. “You hem me in behind and before” Psalm 139:5
May the shadows around you today remind you that you are never alone, and that the Lord’s presence as a shadow is there to protect you from the “heat” of your circumstances.
A popular 70’s-80’s song declares “Never to walk in anyone’s shadow”. My prayer for you today though, is that you may be found in the shadow of the Almighty, also that His shadow would be a comfort to you.