On Saturday’s post we talked about having our soul yearn after God.
We can trigger this by cultivating that passion by reminding ourselves of who God is.
Psalm 84:11 gives us two pictures of what our wonderful God is:
”…the Lord God is a sun and a shield….”
Think about what the sun does for us.
It is the source of light (so we can see).
It gives warmth, (making many other things possible:)
life (Carbon-based),
food (light interacting with chlorophyll),
energy (all usable energy has sun light as its ultimate source),
clean water (providing good rain through evaporation),
the rhythm of the seasons (regulated by our distance from the sun),
variety in weather (sunny 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),
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,
and we should note this and give thanks.
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).
He knows what is good for us
and lets through both pleasant and difficult positives,
while keeping out that which will damage us spiritually.
I am tempted to complain sometimes
at what He allows to come through the filter of His love,
but have to come back to His love, wisdom and power,
and in praise bow before His will.
It is good to remember that our God is our sun and 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 Lord is our beautiful sun, shining on us every day
