Overshadowed By God

Overshadowed By God

A shadow is a region of darkness where light is blocked. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. What shape and size the shadow will have depends on the angle between the source of light, the object creating the shadow and the surface where the shadow is projected. Also, the wider the light source, the more blurred the shadow. The opposite is also true. Lastly, the brighter the light the darker is the shadow.

One of the most famous references of a shadow is found in Psalm 23:4.

Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Allegedly it is a literal place where many shepherd and sheep died. The place was probably considered cursed or forsaken of God. David was saying that walking in this place with God is safer than the top of the mountain alone. Not only was it safer, David felt safer also. This was so, because, even in the darkest times, God’s presence was comforting to David. Not all that happens in darkness is bad; babies are conceived in a dark cavern of the female’s body. In this cavern they develop until they are ready to leave.

The verb to Overshadow means, to cast a shadow over; darken or obscure. It may be that in your darkest moment the Spirit is overshadowing you. Someone said that when it seems to be the darkest for you, it is not that God has left you, but that He is the closest to you, blessing you. Because, His light can consume you in such proximity, He covers Himself from you; which is why it seems very dark to you. When the Lord overshadows you miracles happen. In the case of Mary, Christ was conceived. We read this in Luke 1:34-35,

Luke1:34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Luke1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

You may not conceive a baby when God overshadows you. However, a new you in Jesus may be born (John 3:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17). If the darkness is from God, the clue is to stay still and to trust God to do His work. We tend to run from the darkness because fear kicks in. But, there is no fear in Faith. When in our darkest times of tribulation and trials we learn to trust and depend totally on God. God will miraculously carry us through the trial, and we glorify His name. We may not understand how He did what He did. But, that’s just the point, it is not to understand and prove what God has done, it to trust and believe that it was God who did it, does it and will do it. And, we just stand in awe, with nothing more that a thankful and praiseful heart. We are not to understand God’s purpose, but to trust it.

Just like it is not for us to understand the incarnation or the Cross, but to believe and trust that it did happen and it impacts our lives now and forever. After all, as Sister White says, “God’s wonderful purpose of grace, the mystery of redeeming love, is the theme into which ‘angels desire to look,’ and it will be their study throughout endless ages. Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find in the cross of Christ their science and their song.” The Desire of Ages, pp. 19, 20. Only those who trust God's purpose until the end will have the privilege to study it through out eternity.