Met with a friend yesterday. He’s going through it. Through the gauntlet. Through the storm. Through the fire. The crucible burning hot, he’s intensely feeling some purifying heat. Maybe that’s why shade hits my radar so brightly this morning.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
       From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
       who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
       He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
       will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;
       the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

(Psalm 121:1-6 ESV)

The LORD is your shade . . . That’s what I’m hovering over this morning.

This song is a song of ascents. A song for the trip up to Jerusalem. Lyrics to be sung while traveling the road to the place where the glory dwells. Part of a playlist for a journey filled with uncertainties, possibly even unforeseen dangers. And yet, a song of confidence that the trek begun will be the trek completed. A song to assure the pilgrim that he can keep on keepin’ on because the LORD is his keeper and because his helper is the LORD who made heaven and earth. A tune which testifies that even in the scorching heat of the day — or the withering temperatures of a crucible of testing — the LORD is your shade.

Casting shade. That’s what our God does.

While He may not remove the furnace, His abiding presence allows the pilgrim to endure the heat. Without necessarily cooling down the temperature, His presence brings not only respite but even refreshment and renewal. Even though the day may be anything but cool, if we walk with the LORD we’ll always walk in the cool of the day. The LORD is your shade . . .

What a song for the faithful, though perhaps weary, pilgrim who feels again the heat of another refining fire. What a reality for those who, by faith, sing to themselves, again and again, the LORD is my shade.

The LORD is your keeper;
       the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;
       He will keep your life.
The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in
       from this time forth and forevermore.

(Psalm 121:5-8 ESV)

Amen and amen.

By His grace. For His glory.