In the shadow of God

As I worked in the heat with my hoe, chopping weeds, I prayed. Rascal, such a faithful and loyal dog, hearing my voice came out to be near me. Everywhere I turned he would position himself in my shadow to avoid the heat of the sun. It came to me that this is my desire with the Lord, to remain in His shadow and thus be under His protection. Rascal remains at my side even now as I type this, laying next to me on the bed. There is a comfort there for him despite the times I must discipline him for doing what he knows better to do. After I command him to “GO TO YOUR ROOM” and he does, with his tail down knowing he’s in trouble, there is always that period, a short time latter, where I call him back. Rascal looks for this moment anxiously, peering around the side of the doorway with that expressive face showing his anxiety. “Rascal, Come” is greeted with a visible joy as he bounds back to me, jumping up for pets. So it is with our God. When we go into sin, in our selfish surrender to our desires and personal wants, we leave the presence of the Lord. The danger is that often we choose to do so and choose to ignore what we know is the right way and in the process harden our hearts and blind ourselves to ourselves. This blindness increases with time and soon, what we know to be wrong becomes ok. So God, in His love, will correct us. When nothing works and everything falls to pieces it could be designed to get our attention and lead us back to Him, to residing in the shadow of God.