WRITTEN BY MICHELE HANSEN
Doing my personal devotions one morning, a question came to me… “Are there shadows in heaven?”
I was intrigued. The immediate answer is…maybe? The deeper answer depends on the type of shadow we’re talking about.
The primary definition of shadow in the scriptures has to do with protection, but we must choose to stay close to Him in order to be in His shadow. The shadow can come from different places, but one of the primary images is His “wings”. But shadows have no real power. The shadow testifies to the presence of the light.
So, the next logical step is to look at the Light.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17, NKJV)
I love the New King James Version; in other words, God doesn’t change…He doesn’t move, so His shadow doesn’t move, as in, He doesn’t have a “shadow of turning.” God is Light and in Him there is no darkness. (1 John 1:5)
It’s a good promise from God to hang on to when everything else in our lives is up one side and down the other. Being in the shadow of God’s “wings”, as it were, is quite the opposite of chaos and fear; it’s peace and protection. That’s because you can count on it. He won’t move, and He won’t leave you hanging.
I got to thinking and talking to God about it. If He is the Light, how does He cast a shadow?
In the first verse of the old hymn, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” it says,
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be…”
I heard a story once as a younger person and as an animal lover it was hard for me to hear, but it stuck with me. Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. It was about a farmer who had his barn burn to the ground and as they were cleaning up the mess, they found a hen who had died in the fire. Her wings were spread out and singed. As they moved her to continue to clean up, out from under her came all her little chicks, alive and unharmed. She had stayed on that nest to shield her little ones and gave her own life for her littles. And that was a chicken.
Now think about Jesus. He stayed on that cross to save all His children as well. We are all equals in the shadow of the cross.
“Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.” (Psalm 17:8)
I don’t think I have any answer to the question of how He casts a shadow, I just know that I am safe in it, and so are you. The scripture is very clear that our Heavenly Father is actively protecting us and keeping us covered. But we must stay near to Him to be covered. We can count on Him being right where He has always been. His shadow is in tandem with His presence.
