Shadowed by Love – God is love (Part 1)

When I was younger, I found shadows fascinating. I remember wondering how a shadow could be taller than the person to whom it belonged. On TV I would watch programs where different shapes were made from shadows, sometimes from just a hand and a torch. I always found such scenes interesting. As I grew older, shadows became less fascinating and instead took on a more ominous personality. This is probably because of the new TV programs I had upgraded to with age. In shows like CSI and Criminal Minds, which are a little less than innocent, shadows represent darkness, serial killers lurking or potential victims hiding for their lives.

In a recent study of Psalm 91, coming across the word ‘shadow,’ I was intrigued. Seeking after God’s presence is something we all want to keep as a priority, but in the first verse of this chapter it says that if you stay in the secret place of our Most High God, the benefit of this will be that you will abide in His shadow. This got me thinking, what does abiding in God’s shadow look like? How will I know if I am experiencing this? Seeing that it is a promise, I wanted to have answers to these questions so that I could live this promise out tangibly in my own life.

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” ~ Psalm 90:1 (NKJV)

After doing a word study on the captor of my attention, the word “shadow,” I noted two other specific places where this word is mentioned, again, about our Most High God. In Psalm 17 we are guided to pray that the Lord hide us under the shadow of His wings, and in Isaiah 49 we have an excellent confession that in the shadow of His hand, God has hidden us. In each citing, God seems to take specific care to conceal the one who wants to dwell with Him in His secret place. References made to His wings and His hand give me a vivid illustration that God uses His physical body, enveloping me in His shadow. Wow…

If our shadows are silhouettes of our original shape, then this picture of God’s shadow, should also then, be made up from His original shape- His very character. The details of God’s character are vast and a deeper study into any of them while making use of this particular inference would still apply. But for this instalment, I will focus on one definition of God and His character that I’m sure we are all familiar with. God is love.

“We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love He has for us. God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them.” ~ 1 John 4:16 (TPT)

This is probably not the first time you have heard it said that God is love. It is a definition of Him that even those who have no intimacy with Him know well. If He is love, which His Word, in first John, confirms, understanding the benefits of being hidden in His shadow will lie in us taking the time to explore the intricate details of this title He holds. We can do so by studying the love chapter found in 1^st Corinthians, verses four to seven to be exact, and substituting the word ‘love’ with God.

God is incredibly patient. I don’t know about you, but my patience wears thin often, especially when standing in line. It gives me peace to know that God engages us with such immense patience. This means that no matter the day or the hour if our hearts are after dwelling with Him in the secret place, we will abide under the incredible patience of the Almighty.

God is gentle and consistently kind. When I think about the consistency of God the first word that comes to my mind is steadfast. The definition of the word steadfast is “resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.” Our God is certainly resolute in His affections towards us, Jesus’ death on the cross is evidence of that. His dutiful nature, however, is not because he owes us a duty but because it is impossible for Him to go against His own nature. His duty is to His nature, He is gentle and consistently kind at His very core which serves as a safe covering for us.

God is not envious. The God we serve is complete in and of Himself. He doesn’t need us He doesn’t need anything. He is not discontent or needy, wanting our attention and affection because without them He will be set off. He is not resentful when we do not satisfy His needs because He has none. This means that God’s desire to be with us is simply because of pure love, unadulterated by need. Yes, He has said for Himself, in His Word, that He is a jealous God. This isn’t at all how we see or express jealousy, because again, we do so from a corrupted place. God is jealous for us because He loves us. He knows that when we place, on the throne of our heart anything other than Him, we will be disappointed. He is jealous for us because He is too supreme to anything we can think to take His place and He simply will not compete. When we forsake all else and choose to dwell with our God in the secret place, we abide in Him, the only one who can shelter us in His shadow. It is true, no other covering will do.

God is not rude. No matter what we may do, God never addresses us as less than His most prized possession. His strategy is to love us unconditionally and for his kindness to be what leads us to repentance. He doesn’t punch low blows or use sarcasm to make His point. He speaks the truth in love, always upholding our worth and never attaching it to our behaviour.

God doesn’t force His own way onto us. Though He is perfect in all His ways, He never forces us to submit to them. God made us with free will to choose. Choose to follow Him, choose to love Him in return, and choose to trust and obey Him. Our God is not arrogant in His dealings with us. Though He is set apart and in a class all on His own, He doesn’t impose Himself or His abilities onto us. I am reminded of King Neberkenezer, from the Old Testament, who arrogantly demanded that a statue of himself be worshipped, taking advantage of his position and the fear of his subjects. Our heavenly Father is not that way, He doesn’t take advantage of our weakness or dependence. Rather, He covers us, allowing us to take refuge in Himself, strengthening those weak areas and meeting our dependence in the secret place.

Do you see the shadow taking shape? It’s beautiful, isn’t it? His love is His shadow and in it, we find peace, hope, restoration, strength, safety and so much more. I know it’s easy to equate the love of God with that of man, but I hope that as you dwell with Him, in that secret place, He will snuggle you under His shadow. Let His warmth cover you and you will see, ever so clearly, that this love, His perfect love, cannot be matched.