Living in God's Shadow

Following the Trail to God’s Shadow

August 26, 2020 by Tim

I spent many hours in the forest as a teenager. I learned how to walk almost silently. I learned the terrain of the mountain and where I was the most likely to see deer and elk or the occasional bear. Most importantly, I learned how to follow a trail. I learned to recognize blaze marks on the trees that marked the way on the human-made paths.

That there is a trail out there somewhere that will lead us to God is not the only information we have. The Bible, specifically the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus, map out the trail we must follow. A guide is also given to us that will lead us along the trail that leads to God. “Follow me.” is a command frequently found in the teachings of Jesus. God does not try to hide the path from us. He wants us to follow Him carefully. The Ten Commandments’ underlying principle is that we follow God so intently that we live in His shadow. Each of the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus serves as blaze marks revealing the trail into God’s shadow.

The Israelites followed the trail that God laid out for them in the wilderness. They watch the cloud of God’s presence that settled over the tabernacle. When this symbol of God’s presence lifted and traveled, they would break camp and follow the cloud. (Exodus 40:36-38) The cloud marked the direction they were to move. The Israelites only traveled when the cloud of God’s presence moved. This cloud was the trail marker for them. No one had any question whether it was time to move or where to go. When the cloud moved, they followed the trail it laid out.

I have found no record in scripture of any of the Israelites refusing to follow or making excuses not to follow. I do not read of anyone trying to take a shortcut. They did not know the trail and had to rely on God to lead them.

I do not read of any of the Israelites saying, “I will follow eventually, but I have to roast a few more marshmallows over the campfire before I go.” Living in God’s shadow requires obedient action. Following the trail into God’s shadow is not something we should delay.

Most of the trails I followed, when I was young, were not human-made; instead, the wild animals using the same route many times had created them. These one-foot-wide dirt paths often contained the tracks of whatever or whoever had walked on it in the last few hours. Following these trails, I learned that the deer prefer the route between two places that requires the least amount of effort. None of those trails were as easy as flat ground, but they needed less energy than the surrounding terrain.

Following Jesus is not a guarantee that life will be easy. We will face things we do not understand, painful experiences, and times when it seems like we cannot take another step. No matter how steep or uncomfortable the trail of life may be, we continue to hear Jesus call, “Follow me.” If we look carefully in the dust of the trail, we will see His footprints showing us that He has walked this trail before us.

I also learned that there is a difference between following a trail and following one animal’s tracks in the snow. Once I was following deer tracks through the snowy forest, and I assumed that I could go anywhere the deer went. The deer tracks eventually crossed a very steep area. When I attempted to cross the same area, I learned that the difference between my feet and a deer’s hooves is significant. My feet will not cling to slippery slopes the way the hooves of a deer will.

Personal experience has taught me that when I find the ground beneath my feet to steep to stand on, I am usually off of the trail. If we notice that we do not feel the need for God’s shadow, we are getting off the path. When we think that the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus cannot relate to society today, we are off the trail.

A trail not used frequently will become overgrown and difficult to follow. One place I lived, the neighbors told me of a pathway between the house I lived in and their house. The neighbor’s daughter and a young lady that previously lived in my house had been friends. The girls had walked back and forth so much that they had created a trail between the houses. I looked for the path at that time and found remnants of it. Disuse had caused it to start to become overgrown. The last time I looked, even the remaining pieces had almost disappeared. If we are content to let our Bible become dusty and fail to respond to Jesus’ call to follow Him, we can expect to find that the trail into God’s shadow will become hard to follow.

Following Jesus’ teachings will keep you on the correct path. Consistently pursuing God and living in His shadow will preserve the trail from becoming overgrown.

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Where Are You Looking?

August 19, 2020 by Tim

We have all seen people walk into things, or other people, or fall on the stairs because they failed to look where they were going. Perhaps you have noticed that you tend to go where you are looking? If I am driving and looking at the animals or scenery out the side window, it is not long before the vehicle begins to drift in the direction I am looking. Making straight lines or keeping a car on the road while driving must be a purposeful act. Many years ago, I received advice on how to make straight lines when mowing or plowing. It required that I pick an object at the opposite end of the field or yard and keep my eyes locked on it until I had completed the line. I have tested this advice and found it to be correct. If I look to the right or the left in the middle of the line, I will create a wiggly line instead of a straight one.

Living in God’s shadow requires the same type of focus. We see an example of this in apostle Peter when he asked Jesus to let him approach Jesus by walking on water. He did just fine as long as he kept his focus on Jesus. When Peter began to look at the waves that surrounded him, he began to sink. (Matthew 14:25-33)

Where we fasten our gaze, shows what we consider to be the priority at that instant. When Peter looked at the waves, he suddenly considered them a greater danger than the power of Jesus, which was allowing him to walk on top of the water. When he started to sink, he rearranged his priorities and put faith in Jesus back at the top of the list.

Even when we are focused and trying to make straight lines, there will be things that try to distract us. When I am mowing a straight line, I may hit a rock hidden in the grass, or drive into a gopher hole. Life happens even when we are trying to do things correctly. The kids get sick, the car tire goes flat, and your computer dies all in one day. These kinds of distractions make it hard to keep focused. They are the waves that we face day-to-day.

2 Chronicles 20 has an exciting story about a king of Judah named Jehoshaphat. During his reign, he discovered a plan developed by several neighboring countries to attack his kingdom. His response to this news was to focus on God and pray. (You can read his prayer in 2 Chronicles 20:6-12) He ends his prayer with these words, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 2 Chronicles 20:12 (NIV)

Specific times in my life come to mind when I have prayed words similar to those closing words. The time when my daughter was born with a heart problem, or when my wife received a cancer diagnosis, and when goals I worked toward were snatched away, are all past examples. I am learning that life must be lived with my eyes always on Jesus. The tendency is to begin to rely on my strength, which takes my eyes off of Christ. Losing sight of Jesus causes me to flounder for lack of direction. Placing my eyes back on Jesus corrects my course and leads me in paths I would not have thought to travel.

Uncomfortable situations often cause us to grasp at anything that looks like it could have the slightest possibility of helping. We allow our focus to move to the shiny things around us. What we should do is follow Jehoshaphat’s example. Focus on God and move toward Him. If we read the remainder of the chapter, we find that God provided miraculous deliverance because of Jehoshaphat’s choice.

I have read Hebrews 11 and marveled at the accounts of all the people who have exhibited great faith. The lives of each person mentioned in that chapter clearly show an overwhelming desire to live in God’s shadow. The question is, ” How do I live a life that displays my pursuit of God the way these examples did?” The first three verses of chapter 12 reveal the method. We must reset our priorities so that pursuing God and living in His shadow is the first on the list. Hebrews 12:2 gives us the way we can reset our priorities and effectively seek God, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” ( Hebrews 12:2 NIV) It keeps our eyes on Jesus Christ that enables us to travel a direct route into God’s shadow.

Life experience has shown me that if I continually look at the wrong thing, I will end up in the wrong place. If I focus on the incorrect landmark when I am hiking, I will go off course. When we have focus, we move with purpose. No one accidentally ends up arriving exactly where he or she intended. If you arrive at your intended destination, you purposely moved toward that goal and focused on achieving it. Our pursuit of God works the same way. When we look to Him, we move toward Him. The reverse is also true. It is impossible to focus on living a life displeasing to God and still live in His shadow.

Living a life in the shadow of the almighty God requires that we keep our eyes fixed on Him. Our relationship with Him grows as we move toward Him. The people around us will recognize our focus and faith. Our lives will become a constant invitation to others to also look to Jesus and move into the security of God’s shadow.

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Being Still

August 12, 2020 by Tim

Have you ever asked a two-year-old child to be still? How did that work out for you? Getting a toddler to quit wiggling and moving has always been a challenge for me. I do not know where they get the energy to keep in constant motion. They even move so much in their sleep that I do not understand how they wake up rested.

As I have aged, I find it has become easier to be physically still. Quieting my mind is another matter entirely. My mind is continually planning, considering possibilities, and trying to solve problems I am facing. It requires significant effort to quiet my mind and rest.

Being still is a challenge for humans. Yet we find a reoccurring theme in scripture about being still before God. We find scripture counsels us with verses like, “Be still and know that I am God!” Psalms 46:10 (NRSV). Maybe it is because we fail to recognize that we cannot conquer every situation we face that scripture says, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14 (NIV) Our tendency to worry about things out of our control seems to answered by, “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices.” Psalms 37:7 (NRSV)

What does it mean to be still? Is it not talking? Is it not moving? I believe that when God asks us to be quiet and know who He is or to wait on Him, there is a reason. He is asking that we exhibit trust in Him. I know that sometimes when I pray, I ask for God to work out a problem, but then I go and try to figure it out on my own. Other times I have no ideas of how to resolve the situation. In these latter situations, I am always amazed at how God worked out the circumstance because I was still and waited on Him.

The Apostle Peter wrote about this concept when he wrote, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 (NIV) Being still before God requires us to acknowledge that He is more powerful than we are and that He is in control of everything.

When I was about 8, my family moved to Indiana for a few years. While we lived there, I saw a kind of fishing I had never seen before. People would sit in a lawn chair on the shore of a lake or pond to fish. They would bait their hook, put a bobber on the line, then cast the line out and sit there until a fish happened along. I believed it could not be exciting because it lacked in movement. The point of that kind of fishing was not to create excitement or lots of action. It usually did not result in catching a lot of fish. The purpose of that style of fishing was to relax and to refresh the person by being still.

Part of living in God’s shadow is being still. When we stop moving, we can hear instructions from God. Our minds are open for Him to suggest solutions to the problems we face when we relax in Him.

Several times I have become so caught up in my work that I would forget to rest and sometimes even forget to eat. These times usually came to a sudden halt when I would become so exhausted I would get sick. Proper rest and care would enable me to recover within a short time. However, I had to be still to recuperate. This time of stillness helped me to analyze how I had gotten into this exhausted state. During these downtimes, I would resolve to be more careful and try to restrict my work to certain hours and days. I have managed to get better about following my resolutions as I have aged.

Our spiritual lives require a certain amount of quietly sitting in God’s presence for proper health. It is impossible to continue to live in God’s shadow if you never take time to be still. Often when we think God is not speaking to us or is not working out our circumstances, the problem is that we are not quiet long enough to hear Him or see what He is doing. We wear ourselves out because we do not heed Jesus’ invitation, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 (NRSV) Finding this rest in Jesus Christ requires us to be still before God.

When I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time hiking in the mountains. I never understood why I saw so little wildlife compared to other people. One day another person told me that I was moving through the forest too fast. I slowed down, and I started to see more animals. In the stillness between movements, I occasionally saw and heard the deer before they saw and heard me. When I stopped moving, the squirrels would start running and chattering. Being still enabled me to see and hear much more in the forest than ever before.

If you believe you have not been hearing from God or seeing Him move recently, perhaps you are moving too quickly. It could be time to sit quietly and read scripture. Maybe it is time to treat prayer like a conversation instead of a wish list. Conversations have pauses and space for the other person to respond. When you want God to intervene, you must be still. Stillness enables you to recognize your limitations and the fact that God is all-powerful.

When you want to live in God’s shadow consistently, find a place, and make the time to be still. Living close to God requires us to stop and recognize that God can and does care for us.

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Who Is Holding Your Hand?

August 5, 2020 by Tim

I remember the day before my oldest daughter started to walk. We were going shopping. When we got out of the car, she grasped my hand on one side, and on the other side, gripped her mother’s. Receiving support from both of us, she walked from where we had parked to the back of a large department store. The next day she tried walking without assistance. She took a few successful steps before she tumbled to the ground. Following that tumble, she preferred to hold someone’s hand if she had to walk across an open area.

Although she did eventually learn to walk without support, she still liked to hold my hand. Holding my hand assured her I was there should anything happen that made her uncomfortable or frightened. It also kept her close to me. When she had my hand, her perspective changed. The person whose hand she held could resolve what she could not properly deal with on her own.

Throughout scripture, I find God is continually offering His hand to humans as they struggle through life. Some people accept His hand, and others reject it.

The early years of King Solomon’s reign demonstrated he was dependent on God to rule the nation of Israel. When God told Solomon to ask for anything he wanted, Solomon asked for wisdom. This request showed that Solomon recognized the need to have his hand held by God as he ruled the people. (1 Chronicles 1:7-10)

Requesting that God hold your hand is a sign that you are mature enough to recognize your limitations. Humans are limited in their understanding of situations and in their capacity to deal with those circumstances.

When my children were very young, we tried to hold on to their hands, especially when we were in parking lots and stores. We did this because we recognized the potential dangers to the children in those areas. Every once in awhile, one of the children would break free and run toward danger. This action would raise the parental stress level and cause us to attempt to regain the child’s hand. God does not force anyone to hold His hand. However, I believe that He chases after us when we run into danger. He offers to hold our hand and direct us despite our immature action.

When you hold hands with another person, you must be near them. We can use this principle in our spiritual lives. If we want God to hold our hand and give us support and guidance, we must move into a close relationship with Him. Problems arise when we try to move away from God and still receive His support and blessing.

I believe the natural response to receiving direction and encouragement from God is, offering support to those around us. Perhaps the proper understanding of this is God holding our hand on one side while we extend our other hand in support and encouragement to those on the other side.

While my daughter was learning to walk, we encouraged her. We assured her that she could take the step or two that was required to reach us. We were there to comfort and catch her if she fell. She knew that we believed she could, even when she was unsure. God has that same type of belief in us. He holds our hand, and He also encourages us to go ahead and take that next step. He knows that each step will bring us even closer to Him. Living in God’s shadow was never intended to be a life of misgivings and loneliness. When we hold God’s hand, we step into His shadow, fully confident of his support. We are encouraged and sustained by God’s hand in troubled times, enabling us to offer hope to those around us.

Occasionally, I hear about a person or animal rescued from the water by a human chain. A person safely on dry land is holding the hand of another, who holds the hand of another, continuing until they form a line out to whomever or whatever they are trying to save, forms these human chains. As people who live in God’s shadow, we should also offer a hand of hope to those who live in hopelessness. We must have one hand clinging to God’s hand and the other hand offering hope and encouragement to the discouraged and hopeless around us. We must offer them a hand to help pull them to the safety of God’s shadow.

Whose hand we choose to hold is a crucial detail. I have found holding my right hand with my left is not comforting or reassuring. It is kind of like plugging one end of an electrical extension cord into the other end of the same cord. For the extension cord to work correctly, it requires a connection to a power source. Holding God’s hand and connecting with God, energizes me and enables me to offer a link to that energy to those around me.

When my children were small, we discouraged them from holding any stranger’s hand. We chose this action because we were not sure where the stranger might lead them or what germs or other substances the stranger might have on their hands. We did not know if the stranger was just a person whose day was brightened by seeing a toddler or if the person was a kidnapper. As long as we had the child’s hand in ours, we knew they were in our control and safe.

Holding God’s hand gives us the safety we need to offer others the hope He gives to us. We have no fear of being kidnapped away from God simply because we provide the promise of a better life in God’s shadow to others. Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:28 (NIV)

Hold tight to God’s hand, allowing Him to lead you to a life in His shadow. The most secure place we can live is God’s shadow, with our hand clinging to His.

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The Designs of Life

July 29, 2020 by Tim

For more than 25 years, I have professionally rewoven chair seats and other furniture pieces that incorporate caning or wicker. Designs and patterns are a part of my life. The design of each piece of furniture that requires weaving is for a specific type of seating material. The design of the chair’s structure must support the seating the builder has in mind when they construct the chair. Restoring the chair’s seat requires understanding the design elements and envisioning what the original builder imagined when they built the chair.

Each of our lives has a specific design. Some of us have a very constant repeating pattern in our lives. We go through our days using the same routine for years without any changes. For others of us, our life feels more like a haphazard patchwork of events. Nothing stays the same from day to day. Some, like me, prefer to work undisturbed and focused. Like my wife, who is a nurse, others enjoy working in the middle of chaos, saving lives. Neither person is right or wrong. We just are designed for different things. No two life experiences are the same. We all have some things we do better than others.

When we live in God’s shadow, we recognize that He is the designer of all life and has a specific plan for our lives. We cannot always see the design in our life. Sometimes life feels haphazard and chaotic. We may even worry that God has run out of ideas with us and is experimenting to see if anything will work. God has a plan. We will not always understand everything that happens in our lives. Sometimes we may feel that we do not understand anything that is happening. Yet every event and circumstance has a purpose.

Following instructions can be challenging. Inability to see the end product emerging as we follow each step makes this especially true. Once I had a client bring me a piece that required an advanced weaving pattern called “spider weave.” I found instructions and began to replace the weaving. Even though I followed the instructions carefully, I could not see the proper pattern emerging. I worried that I had missed something or failed to understand the instructions. Then as I was putting the last set of strands into place, the pattern suddenly appeared.

We like to understand everything that happens, and we want to believe that we comprehend the context. There will be things we cannot explain and things we cannot put into proper context. What design element was God incorporating into my life when my oldest daughter started her life in the Neo-natal intensive care unit, and we were unsure if she would survive? What crazy design element was my wife having cancer? What is God designing when it seems like your goals are at your fingertips and then disappear like a mirage? Unfortunately, I cannot explain the reasons for any of these or even promise that you will eventually understand the reason for everything. I encourage you to wait for the Master Designer to complete the pattern He is weaving in your life.

A key design feature in every life is encouraging each person to develop a close relationship with God. Some people fight this element, and others embrace it. Scripture tells us of a time when the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians. (Exodus 1) Just before Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, God sent several unusual design elements into both people groups’ lives. (Exodus 7-11) The Egyptians appeared to have rejected the invitation to know God and suffered the consequences. The Israelites chose to embrace God and follow His design for them, enabling them to find freedom from their slavery.

Occasionally, I get a chair project that has a surprise element in the seating. Some of the chairs I reweave have hollow spaces under the seat. Paper and cardboard usually fill these spaces. I find lots of dust, bugs, and crumbs from meals past. Sometimes these voids are stuffed with cornstalks, bulrushes, foreign newspapers, or perhaps nothing at all. (I keep hoping for a chair stuffed with money but no luck so far.) Most of the time, the owner has no idea that there is anything more to the seat than the part they can see. As a professional who reweaves seats, I know about these spaces and look for them. As humans, we have no surprise elements for God. He knows the most hidden places of our hearts and all our secrets. (Psalms 44:21, Ecclesiastes 12:14)

Occasionally a client wants a chair changed to accept a material it was not designed to take. They will bring me something and ask for a more durable seating than what the designer put into it. Sometimes I have to explain that the chair’s design does not permit a change in the media used in the seat. Other times I can make creative adjustments to use another kind of woven seating.

In our lives, we often approach God with requests for changes in the design He is weaving. These requests usually revolve around what we would make our lives easier. Who would not like more time to relax or enough money in the bank never to worry about a bill for the rest of our lives? We ask for the design change and then think God is ignoring us or perhaps is mad at us if we do not receive the change we requested. James wrote about this, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3, NRSV) When we make ask for things that help us follow God more closely, we are not the only ones blessed by God’s response. There is something about living in God’s shadow that makes us better humans.

If we want the best design for our life, we must trust God to do the creative designing. There is no way better to see the design develop than to live in God’s shadow.

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