The Lord is my shade

The weather is so hot these days, it is no fun if you have to get out into the sun and feel the wrath of the sun’s rays assault your senses. When you are out there, there is no greater appreciation than for a big shady tree. Bliss! Relief! Sanity! (even if it is a little tree).

I contemplate how critical a shade is to survive such blazing heat. The reason we are spared the blistering heat is because the tree is taking the heat for us. The full wrath of the sun falls on the tree instead of us.

Psalm 121 declares the Lord is our shade. And how appropriate . .

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—

where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the LORD,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—

he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you—

the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,

nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.

In the days when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt (and Pharoah) and into the desert, God would appear to them as a Cloud by day and a Fire by night * . Perfect sense. A cloud to shield the heat of day and a fire to give light in the night. In fact, God even provided ‘manna’(food) and water (from a rock) in their sojourn into the dessert.

In short, God would provide everything they needed.

But alas, the Israelites were rebellious and preferred a set of Rules instead of God and thus the Ten commandments (Law) were introduced. The problem was (still is), nobody would benefit because it was not possible to keep the Law in its entirety. (The Law was put there to lead us to Christ, to be justified by faith - Gal 3:24) So continually, the priests would offer animal sacrifices to atone for the sins of the nation. A few times, when they messed up badly, the wrath of God would fall immediately and an entire people would be decimated.

The Law was perfect and holy but the people (us) were not.

But it would lead to His perfect plan to save us...

Fast Forward 1400yrs. (*the year 0 AD) When Jesus came as the Lamb of God He became the perfect sacrifice that was offered, once and for all. He took the sins of the world on himself, and the wrath of God meant for us was exhausted on him as He hung on the cross. He took the complete wrath of God for us.

The Lord is our shade.

And even as I am so relieved by the coolness of the shade of the tree, I am delighted of the shade my Lord brings ... and it is a big shade indeed.

.. join the shade .. plenty room here. Cool and refreshing. Rest.

17 Feb 2010