Tuesday January 24, 2023
I’ve been thinking so much about my friend Geoff Richard’s favorite phrase these last days:
I DON’T LIVE UNDER THE SHADOW OF DEATH -
I LIVE IN CHRIST WHO IS MY LIFE.
Geoff lived into his early 80s - but passed away over 5 years ago now. He knew what the “shadow of death” that he spoke of was all about. You see, for many years he suffered from cancer, a cancer that riddled his entire body, a cancer that was sometimes very active and other times in remission. The possibility of death, its dark and cold shadow, threatened him daily for years.
But Geoff understood something that few of us do. With eyes that saw beyond the visible, he knew that imminent death, its shadow hanging over him daily, only masqueraded as reality. His deeper and higher reality was the truth that his life was hidden in Christ, and that Christ was His life. Although death pretended to have the power to strike at any moment, it was Jesus who had the key to his passing - and only when He so deemed right and acceptable, only then would Geoff pass from life here, through death, to life on the other side of eternity.
I DON’T LIVE UNDER THE SHADOW OF DEATH -
I LIVE IN CHRIST WHO IS MY LIFE.
And what about me, today in 2023? Where do I live? Not physically speaking, but spiritually and eternally speaking. With all that is going on in the world these days, I could easily be fooled into believing that I live under the shadow of death: the shadow of covid, the shadow of another terminal illness, the shadow of an accident, the shadow of an earthquake or another natural phenomenon, the shadow of possible world war… the death of broken dreams and plans, of broken ministry and broken relationships… The list could go on and on - and I could believe and feel that the shadow of all those “deaths” is looming dark and heavy over me, and one day is going to completely destroy and kill me.
Or, I could learn to see and live like Geoff did: knowing beyond a doubt that my life is not lived under the darkness and the fear of death, but lived freely in the light of Christ’s resurrected and very alive life - knowing that I am not exposed for the killing under the shadow of death, but hidden for safekeeping in the shadow of God’s wings.
Psalm 91:4 says: “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”
Psalm 36:7 says: “How precious is Your lovingkindness, oh God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.”
Psalm 57:1 says: “Be gracious to me, oh God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by.”
No, I don’t live under the shadow of death, as much as that shadow of death may masquerade as my reality. My true reality is that I live in the shadow of my heavenly Father’s wings - where I find refuge, His faithfulness, His lovingkindness, and His graciousness while the destruction of life here on earth passes me by.
One of Geoff’s favorite Bible passages, that he didn’t just know and quote, but that he deeply lived by was Deuteronomy 30:19-20:
Every day, every moment of every day, Geoff would make the conscious decision to CHOOSE LIFE over death, to choose blessing over cursing. Every day, and every moment of every day, he chose to love the Lord his God, to obey His voice, and to hold fast to Him. He knew, beyond any doubt at all, that the Lord was his very life and his length of days.
Geoff understood that the shadow of death had absolutely no power over him. His life here on earth was hidden for safekeeping in the shadow of God’s wings, where he lived in light and love and mercy and the truest and realest life until the day that Christ called him to continue living in his eternal home in heaven.
May I, may we all, learn to live like this: not in constant fear and enslavement under the shadow of death - but with trust and in freedom, hidden in Christ’s light and life in the shadow of our Father’s wings.
I DON’T LIVE UNDER THE SHADOW OF DEATH.
I FIND REFUGE AND LIVE IN THE SHADOW OF GOD’S WINGS.
