Shade For Refreshing

“The LORD [is] thy keeper: the LORD [is] thy shade upon thy right hand.” (Ps 121:5 AV)

It is interesting that the writer equates God’s keeping to shade.  This is illuminating.  Shade does not protect against all discomfort.  Shade protects from that which is immediately hazardous.  If the sun, heat, or adverse weather was the problem, then a building would address more of it.  Rather, shade will keep us from exposure to direct threats without completely removing the threat.  God can and does deliver completely from that which can cause harm.  But not always.  There are lessons to learn that can only be learned through adversity.  Shade means brings strength to endure.  It does not bring complete absence of adverse conditions.

For whatever reason, I do not like direct sunlight.  I prefer rainy days over bright skies.  I like cooler weather more than hot summers.  Whenever I am outside, I look for shade.  We grew up with neighborhood parks as a common thing.  Each neighborhood had its own little park.  They usually offered a softball field or two, a tennis court, a wading pool, and on occasion, an outdoor ice rink.  Of course, there was playground equipment like swings, slides, and a merry-go-round.  Our park did not have picnic offerings to speak of.  A couple of grills and picnic tables were about it.  The park was more for the children’s benefit than it was for socializing.  I remember our park because the trees were few and far between.  The most common tree was a locust tree.  There were three very large ones near the slide.  They were between the slide and the basketball court.  I remember them because they were huge and offered plenty of shade.  As we played, we sought out this shade as a respite from our activities.  That is where we sat and drank water.  That is where we sat when we were too hot or tired to continue our play.  The shade did not make the sun go down.  The temperature never decreased.  But as the breeze blew across the open ball fields onto our faces, being in the shade felt refreshing.

It is important to remember that God does not promise a trouble-free life.  He cannot.  It wouldn’t be good for us.  Just as we do with our parents, we allow our children to be placed in difficult situations so they might learn and mature.  God is no different.  He would be a horrible God if He removed all adversity from us, as we remained immature, faithless, and accomplishing little for His glory.  It is said of Jesus that he “grew in favour both with God and man”.  The Son of God went through difficult times to experience what it was like to be human.  He learned those things that could only be learned by living through them.  Did that make Him more divine?  No.  He is, was, and always will be infinitely God.  What Jesus did learn was that human experience comes with certain things that can only be known be going through them.  Jesus Christ suffered the worst of all.  God did not remove the cup from which Jesus preferred not to drink.  Jesus drank of the cup of the wrath of God to satisfy the requirement for sin under the law.  God asked His only begotten Son to go through the heat, but the shade would be there.  God will not always deliver completely from adversity.  What He does promise to do is to make it survivable.