Marcus Mecum - The Shadow of the Almighty
Psalms 91, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him I will trust'. Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence and shall cover you with his feathers, under his wings you shall take refuge: his truth shall be a shield and a buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor pestilence that walks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand: but it will not come near you".
Just say a big "Amen" right there, we'll keep reading. "Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling: for he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in some your ways," that why you should bring your Bible.
"All of your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 'Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble: I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation".
You could just go home all week and just read Psalms 91 over and over and over. That is a bad to the bone chapter filled with promises... for us. And it mentioned specifically 11 different dangers that were on the earth at the time that Moses was here, and it sounds somewhat similar to our planet today. Wars is mentioned, pestilence, terror, evil, enemies, arrows by night, danger, wickedness. And in the middle of all of these horrific things that Moses is describing, Moses wrote Psalms 91, Moses, as he's describing all the evils that were plaguing his world, he puts in there that if you'll dwell under the shadow of the Almighty, even though all of this stuff is happening in the world, there's a place in God you can find that no matter what the state of the world is, you can find safety, you can find a sense that nothing can stop you, but it's not necessarily that anything in the world's gonna change, it's a place in God you can find no matter what the world around you is looking like.
Now, think about Moses as he writes this. We would know that Moses had survived several things to end up being the deliverer that God called him to be. As he brings Israel out of Egypt, there were plagues that he and his family survived. They go into the wilderness, in the wilderness they have to survive Pharaoh's army, of course, the Red Sea swallowed up Pharaoh's army. All around Moses in the wilderness, he's having to survive daily, he's having to figure out to how to lead millions of people without the natural resources to do so. And the Bible says, yet Moses gave us a key that no matter how horrible it is, there is a shadow, what he called the shadow of the Almighty that you and I can find. In the wilderness, in the world, in the midst of all the wickedness, and the evil, and the terror, and the dangers, and the wars, God is teaching us through Moses there is a way that you can find peace in the midst of all that's going on in the world.
So, the first thing that I want us to look at, which that's what I'm talking to you about, by the way, the shadow of the Almighty. The first thing that we have to understand is what's called the law of hospitality. The law given by Moses in the wilderness, specifically the law of hospitality, was how to treat somebody if you find them in a wilderness or lost in the deserts of life. The desert speaks of people being thirsty, people being hungry, people having lost their way. It speaks of people that are in a low place and they need a refuge. They need help, they cannot make it on their own, and so the Bible says that in the midst of all that's going on in the world, we have to teach people there's a way that they can find this, what he calls, the shadow.
Now, in the Bible, if you were out in the wilderness, in the desert wondering around trying to find your way, occasionally you would run upon a group of tents, usually they were herd's men or shepherds that were trying to move their herds or their flocks to a new piece of land. And so, if you see these tents, the law of Moses said you approach them, there is a particular tent that's going to be identified in any group of tents, that is the chief shepherd or whoever the chief herd's man is. His tent is marked in some unique way, usually with some type of clear rope or some kind of clear symbol of some type.
Once that's identified, you can walk up being a complete stranger, you can be in the middle of the wilderness and you walk up to that group of tents, you find that chief shepherds tent and if you pull that rope, it'll send a sound into that tent and the chief shepherd gets up, and according to the law of Moses, they are required, once you call for help, they are required to show you hospitality and give you anything that you need. Hebrews 13:2, Paul refers to this law of hospitality by saying, "Be careful how you treat strangers because you might be treating or entertaining angels and not even be aware of it".
Paul is referring back to this old practice called the law of hospitality. That it was so engrained in the Hebrew culture that in their minds, when they were taking care of a stranger, when they were taking care of an outcast, when they were taking care of the downcast, they saw it, and Jesus added to this by saying, "As you've done to the least of these, so you've done to me". So, he intensifies the law of hospitality, but nonetheless, the scripture is clear that in the Hebrew mind, God wanted people to know that no matter who you're dealing with, the lowly, the downcast, treat him as like they're your very guardian angel.
And Jesus said, "Treat them like you would treat me. Because, by the way, you might actually be dealing with an angel, and I'm just testing you". You and I don't, people ask me all the time, "Marcus, why is 7 hills so friendly? You know, it's gotta be fake, everybody's so friendly here". And if it's not friendly to you, then just come and talk to me and I'll find out who was being mean to you and I'll be mean to them and there you go. No, I'm just kidding, we won't do that. But this is the point. Because years ago, we noticed that one of the worst feeling to have in a church is being and feeling like you're invisible or ignored. And that when people show up at church, we don't know who they are, we don't know what their background are, they might want to be left alone, but they might be showing up to church and their mind's saying, "This is the last chance I'm gonna give God".
And so, we wanna be like the prodigal father where we run out to meet 'em and we put the robe on 'em, and we love 'em, and drop by guest welcome, and do this and do that. But the truth is, we might be entertaining angels and not even be aware of it. Our wonder, I just gonna throw it out there, what if God sends angels to check up on how his church treats people? And what if we treated people like they were angels? You're like, "Oh, that's not a big deal".
Have you ever seen an angel? I haven't, but if I seen an angel, something tells me I would treat it with a little bit respect, I would treat it with a little bit of kindness, right? I probably not have much ego. When I read the Bible, people fall on their faces in fear just in the presence of an angel, so something tells me I would treat people different if I saw them as the spiritual beings that they really are, the valuable people that they are to God. So, the mindset of people in the Hebrew culture, they saw strangers as a gift from God and so when someone loses their way, they need help, you do two things, if you're that person, you find the tents, you call on the chief shepherd and that chief shepherd takes you in, he gives you refuge, and this is what I want you to see, I've been tryna say a bunch of things to get to this point.
When a Hebrew, someone that's raised in the Hebrew culture hears the word shadow, the image that they get isn't, like, a tree casting a shadow, or a building casting a shadow, or your body casting a shadow. In the Hebrew mind, when they hear the word shadow, they see that chief shepherd's tent. In their mind, when Moses is talking about to dwell in the shadow of the Almighty, what they know he's talking about is people have a tendency to end up lost in life, they're in wildernesses in life, they're lonely, they're afraid, they don't know what to do, and the most important thing that Moses was saying that we do in the midst of a world where there's terror, and there's fear, and there's danger, and there's intense heat, there is a place in God you can find shade from all of that and it's referring to those tents that are in the middle of the desert.
In that tent, you would find rest, in that tent you would find hydration, you would find food, you would find protection, you would find what you needed to get strong so you could go back out into the world and face the dangers that exist. And so, God was telling his people, "There is a place in me". I know the world at times seems like it's hopeless, I know life sometimes feels like it's bigger than you and that you don't know what to do, which way to go, but there is the shadow of the Almighty that if you can find it and take refuge in it, there you'll have the chief shepherd pull you under his wing, and he'll start to nurse you back to health and strength. Jesus is very clear that in the world, there will be troubles, "But take heart," he said, "Because I've overcome the world".
So, in times that we're lost, in times that we're wondering, in times that we're empty and overwhelmed, in times that we're going through hell on earth, God said, "There is a place where if you'll call on me as you chief shepherd, I can protect you, I can nurse you, and nurture you, and feed you, and quench every thirst that you have". So, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty is us understanding that God knows how to put it all on the line for us. It's a law of hospitality, in God's mind, it is a law. This is something he is, according to his own character, it is a principle that he has established in the way that he looks at us and treats us.
To see how extreme God is with this law, you could go to Genesis 19 and there were two angels that showed up in Saddam and Gamora, they end up at lot's house. Inside of lot's house, they're receiving protection, they're underneath the law of hospitality and the protection of that law. While their inside of lot's house, two men knock on the door of the home, the Bible says they were homosexuals that wanted to have sexual relations with the two angels. And lot makes it a point to say this to them, that because of the law of hospitality, he cannot lift the protection off of the two strangers that were angels, but that he can give his two daughters to them. And lot is willing to give his two daughters to these two men to, God knows what they would do with it, because of how severe and how seriously they took the law of hospitality.
So, think about that. I don't know about you but if you come to my house and you need something, I might have some water, alright? I might give you a sandwich or something, alright? I might be able to find 5/10 bucks or something and help you get some gas to move on with it, but if you're a stranger, I ain't giving up my daughters for a stranger. Anybody else here? I'm not. I'm not godly enough, I'm not spiritual enough, I'm not holy enough but really, that's how God is. When you and I come to him, he'll go to severe, extreme measures to let you and I know that he's gonna protect us, and he's gonna love us, and he's going to look out for us, it's the law of hospitality.
Now, God would go one step further with this, I'm going somewhere with this, I promise. He then would make himself a tent in the middle of the wilderness called "The tabernacle" which was the place that God would dwell. Inside of the tabernacle, there was a veil which was a thick curtain, that wasn't there to keep God in the tent, but was there to keep man outside of the tent. So, when Jesus died on the cross and the veil was torn, it wasn't so much that it was saying that God could now get out as much as it was saying that you and I can get in to where God is. And the symbolism is that we're not on the outside any longer. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, we're on the inside where we're not wondering around lost, aimless in the wilderness and the desert on our own, trying to figure it out.
No, when you come to the chief shepherd's shadow and you come inside of his shadow, he protects you, he cares for you, and he provides for you. The word "El Shaddai" is the way God is introduced in this text, "El" meaning "All powerful," "Shaddai" meaning, like, a nursing mom would be to her baby. El Shaddai, yes God is all powerful, yes, he is great, yes, he is mighty, but he is also nurturing and gentle in the way that he works with us. And there are times that you're going through things in life and you want el, you want all powerful God, you need mighty God, you need the greatness of God, you need the bigness of God and what he can do, you need that, but there are other times you're going through the wilderness, and you're like, "I don't know if I need that all powerful God, I might need Shaddai for just a minute. I might need that nurturing, loving, kind, gentle touch, like a mother would her child".
And I'm a grown man, but I can tell you sometimes life gets difficult enough that I don't want to be all powerful, I'm not trying to be mister big tough guy, sometimes I just get so broken that I'm like, "God, would you please just let me know through your gentle touch and just through the sweetness of your voice that you're for me, and that you love me, and that you've not left me, and you're still for me"? That's finding the shadow of the Almighty. I love the fact that if I am in need of his great power, it's there but if I'm in need of just his tender, caring mercy, it's also available.
A lot of times we go through these desert experiences and we're just trying to figure out, "God, why am I going through this lonely place, or this dry place, or this empty place"? And Isaiah 32:1-2, it says, "The king and his priest shall reign, and they will be a refuge from the wind, shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry land". I love that. You see, God wants to give us safety, he wants to refresh us, he wants to renew us, he wants to restore us and strengthen us, but he also wants you and I to be a tent on location for others who need to rest from the deserts that they're facing.
In other words, your past and what you've been through is somebody's present right now. And sometimes I look back and I think, I wish I would have not had that difficulty. And I know many of you and I've heard your situations, and it's not been perfect, and there are regrets, and there are things we wish were different than what they are, nonetheless, we have to come to this place where we realize, "Okay, God can take everything that I've been through, he can take every hurt, every heartbreak, every empty thing", he can even take our failures and our mistakes and he can use all of that, God can use all of that for you to be somebody that is a source of strength to someone that's going through what you've been through.
So, God puts us in deserts so when someone else walks down the same road we have, they have a tent to pull on, they have a shadow, they have someone that they can turn to. Though I wish God had not made me go through the trials I've gone through, at times, I look back and I can see now why... This happened recently, I was at this pastor's conference and it's self-imposed, but I've never really felt like I got along with other preachers that well. I have a lot of pastors that are friends but, in those kind of settings, there's a lot of competition, there's a lot of insecurity, and I know it should be that way with pastors, okay?
But it just is, it's a very weird profession, okay? It's very unusual. I was telling Sara last night, I'm like, "I can't believe this is what we do with our lives," it's all I've ever done, but I still am like, "This is such a bizarre life," you know? And so, I'm there with all of them and we're talking about whatever, and I just suddenly start to feel in me like how I feel towards you. Like, in this church, when I look at this church, I feel, the only way to explain pastoring is it's paternal in nature. You're not my kids but that father's heart, in order to pastor people, God gives you his heart for them and you sense it.
You don't know why, but you're crazy protective. And you know as a parent, you're being really protective but you gotta act like you're not being that protective, you know what I mean? You gotta play all these mind games, cause you're trying to raise your kids, right? You're trying to get 'em right, so you're trying to, how do I get them away from the wrong people? You know, how do I do that? How do I do it without them knowing I'm doing it? You know what I'm talking 'bout? Like, that's pastoring, by the way. That's what we do, right?
We're always trying to figure out, how do we get 'em away from that? And how do we get 'em in the... And they're heading in that direction, oh my God, now we gotta, and you go through your little ups and downs, you go through your little teenage phases, right? You get a little mad, and independent, and rebellious, and just stomping, and get mad at me and it's, okay, so I get all that, but this is what I'm saying. I was looking at these pastors and I suddenly felt that father heart for them. I started to feel the pain of young preachers, I started to feel scared for them 'cause I know how hard it is, and I started to worry about them, and I started to wonder how are they gonna make it and who's gonna help 'em make it? Are you here?
It's because I was the young preacher, and I was scared, and I felt like a failure, and I felt like it was bigger than me, and I felt inferior, and I felt inadequate, and I felt all those things. And there were so many times I was so close to giving up. And as much as I love people, they always say the worst thing. You know, they just do. People just say things to you and they just, it's like they just feel it's their obligation to, kinda, keep you down, you know what I mean? I had somebody tell me one time, "I'm gonna give you a compliment pastor, but I don't want you to get a big head".
I'm like, "Well, there's 18 people that are following you that are gonna make sure I don't have it so just go ahead and give the compliment, okay"? Cause, make no mistakes, somebody's gonna deflate me very quickly. But what you been through is for a purpose. Everything you been through, there's a purpose to it. And God wants to give you a heart for people that have not gotten victory in areas you have. You got victory in that area and thank God for that.
Thank God for your courage, thank God for the wisdom, thank God for the right relationships, the right people, that we're all there that somehow, you got on the other side of that wilderness experience in your life but yet here you are. And let's not get so caught up in how blessed we are and how good things are that we lose touch, and we stop having compassion and care for those people who do not have the victory yet in their life in the areas we've got victory in our life.