A Way to nurture our first love for God, meditating on His beautiful qualities: Psalm 84:11: “…the Lord God is a sun and a shield….”

Think about what the sun does for us.

It gives warmth without which life can’t exist.

It is the source of light so we can see,

and it makes many other things possible including, like:

food (light interacting with chlorophyll),

energy (all usable energy has sun light as its ultimate source),

clean water (the weather cycle providing clean rain comes from evaporation),

the rhythm of the seasons (regulated by our distance from the sun),

variety in weather (sunny days and cloudy days, calm and storm),

direction (the sun rises in the East and sets in the West),

discipline and rest (night and day),

beauty (sunrise and sunsets, shadows to highlight the landscape),

and consistency (it comes up every day).

Our God is like this, providing all this and more for us. We are surrounded by His love and provision, but sadly take most of it for granted.

God is also our shield, like the atmosphere, filtering out what will harm us.

There are many promises in Scripture of His protecting us from what is harmful (e.g., Ps. 23, 1 Pet. 1:5). He knows what is good for us and lets the pleasant and the painful positives come through

while keeping out that which will damage us spiritually.

I am tempted to complain at some of what He allows to come through the filter of His love,

but must come back to the fact that He is shielding us from all that is truly evil with wisdom and power, and in praise bow before His will.

It is good to meditate on the fact that our God is our sun and our shield,

to note what He does for us every day,

and to cultivate the deep yearning of our souls for His presence and grace

by spending time with Him, in worship, in the Word, in intercession.

Picture: The Sun, bringer of light, beauty and food.