Sun v Shade
... Did you know that shade doesn’t make temperatures cooler. In fact, air temperature is actually the same in the sun or shade. It’s solar radiation hitting our bodies which makes it feel hotter. On average, solar radiation makes the air feel 10 -15 degrees warmer than it actually is.
This is why official air temperature is always measured in the shade. If the thermometer were placed in the sun, the solar radiation would heat up the thermometer and the resulting temperature would be measuring the warmed up thermometer and not the air around the thermometer. -- ABC News
In the heat of the day, we run to shade for shelter -- some measure of relief from the searing radiation that makes our bodies sweat and our skin burn.
However, the exact reverse is true when we are cold and shivering. We long to step out from the shade, in the hopes of capturing any measure of warmth from the sun's rays to warm our bodies and alleviate the chill.
Scripture is repleat with references to the metaphorical, protective wings of the Lord, spread over us to shield and protect. Often times, as we duck under for cover, we find instant relief from whatever drama, trial, or tragedy has befallen us.
Yet sometimes, we step under the shelter of the Lord's wings and we find no immediate relief. We find the cold and cruelty of our circumstances "feel" no different, no warmer there.
The Lord's protection is no instant panacea, defined quite literally as "a solution or remedy for all difficulties or diseases." As often as not, the Lord's "protection" will take us through the cold hard trial, rather than around it.
Corrie ten Boom, a WWII concentration camp survivor, in her acclaimed book, The Hiding Place, described the pain of standing for hours, at attention before her Nazi captors, in the freezing cold of the pre-dawn hours, or huddled on the wooden bunks, sharing blankets and body heat against the crippling chill of the winter nights in captivity. Why was there no relief from her cold, hard trials? Where, in those moments, were the wings of God's protection?
They were spread wide over her, just as He promised!
Speaking of their times gathered around a small, smuggled bible, she would write,
Like waifs clustered around a blazing fire, we gathered about it, holding out our hearts to its warmth and light. The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the Word of God.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
I would look about us as Betsie read, watching the light leap from face to face. More than conquerors ... It was not a wish. It was a fact.
We knew it, we experienced it minute by minute--poor, hated, hungry. We are more than conquerors. Not 'we shall be.' We are!
Life in Ravensbruck took place on two separate levels, mutually impossible. One, the observable, external life, grew every day more horrible. The other, the life we lived with God, grew daily better, truth upon truth, glory upon glory."
Indeed, in the cruelest of firey trials or chilling challenges, His wings are spread over us. Though we often find no immediate relief for our circumstances, we can (and DO!) find relief for our souls!
"For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless" (Psalm 84:11, NIV).
"Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills [his purpose] for me" (Psalm 57:1, ESV).
“Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the SHADOW of thy wings” (Psalm 17:8, NIV)
I'm On Your Six!
I like courtroom drama. One of the shows I used to watch regularly is JAG (which stands for Judge Advocate General). This show was about a Navy lawyer who used to be a fighter pilot. During the course of the show's run, Harm (the Navy lawyer) went back to flying Navy fighter jets. One of the things that they would always say to each other while flying was "I got your six." This referred to the 6 o'clock position of the fighter which was directly behind him. The pilot could not see behind him, and was therefore dependent on someone else to keep his "6" clear.
The same is true in the Christian life. There are positions in life that we cannot see...we might call them blind spots. We need brothers and sisters to "watch our six" so that we might be safe and free from failure. ("Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness..." Galatians 6:1).
But even more significanly, God's promise to us is that He's always "got our 6." On the cross He took care of sin and death, and we can trust Him for that. So no matter what you might face today...no matter how big and tough and scary the enemy is...you can know that God's "got your six!"
"No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Joshua 1:5).
He ISN'T Safe, But He IS Good
Relationship with the Living God, the King of Universe, can be an intimidating, even fearful thing. As we embark on our journey of faith we can’t begin to know what lies ahead of us, where God’s will will lead us. Turning our life completely over to the care of one we cannot see and don’t yet fully know or understand can seem uncertain a best and downright risky and scary at worst. And yet, if we trust Him to be the benevolent God He claims Himself to be, we can jump into the future with a kind of reckless abandon.
C.S. Lewis, in his classic tale THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, attempts to paint a picture of this mysterious trust relationship. Two of the main characters, Lucy and Susan, are young girls who find themselves in a strange land of talking beasts and fanciful kingdoms locked under a spell of evil—a place where it is “always winter, but never Christmas.” They come upon the company of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver and begin to inquire of them about the prospects of kingdoms and peoples of this strange land ever escaping the grip of evil that has descended upon them. The beavers begin to tell them of the great lion, Aslan, who is coming soon to conquer evil and restore the land to peace and security. What’s more, the children discover that they will become key players in Aslan’s great plan of redemption:
“Is—is he a man?’” asked Lucy.
“Aslan a man!” said Mr. Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. … Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion—the lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan, “I’d thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he is good.”
John Eldredge, in his book THE SACRED ROMANCE, brings home the application:
Like … Susan and Lucy …, to find ourselves not as spectators but as central characters in the play of life is somewhat daunting. The stakes are truly high, sometimes literally life or death, and God rarely if ever yells “Cut!” just as the dangerous or painful scene descends upon us. No stunt doubles come onto the set to take our places. Many of us feel that we have been playing these kinds of senses ever since we were children. We wonder if our hero will ever show up to rescue us.
We would like to picture goodness as being synonymous with safety. When we think of God being good, we perhaps picture someone like Al on the old TV program Home Improvement. He is someone who carefully plans out each task ahead of time and has all the proper tools and safety equipment in place; someone who has thought out every possible danger ahead of time and made allowances to ensure our safety as his workmate …
Being in partnership with God, though, often feels much more like being Mel Gibson’s sidekick in the movie Lethal Weapon. In his determination to deal with the bad guy, he leaps from seventh-story balconies into swimming pools, surprised that we would have any hesitation in following after him. Like Indiana Jones’s love interest in the movies, we find ourselves caught up in an adventure of heroic proportions with a God who both seduces us with his boldness and energy, and repels us with his willingness to place us in mortal danger, suspended over pits of snakes.
Every good actor will tell you that to give your best performance you must learn to trust the director. Like the director of a great action-adventure movie, God will call us to perform all kinds of wild, harrowing, seemingly dangerous stunts. Truly, as Lewis asserted, God isn’t “safe” but He is “good.” Knowing this reality, we can find the courage to jump off any ledge, knowing that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).