Recently I made a statement that was questioned by the sweet people of my church. Below is my response to all of them:
It is so wonderful to have a congregation that understands the Word of God like this. I see the Bible being preached...I rarely see it being cherished. You are cherishing His Word when you become like a Berean and check to see if what I say consists of Biblical accuracy. I am so grateful for the many who have responded to my statement. I stand corrected in it. I receive it and "boast in the humiliation". My statement Sunday was something to this affect:
"To say that you are in the "shadow of the Almighty" would be incorrect since God does not have a shadow."
This bears some explanation since there is a verse in the Bible that says this very thing. It is Psalm 91:1.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I did not refer to this verse, but I would say that indeed I did inappropriately apply the "Shadow of the Almighty" phrase in the sense that God actually does have a shadow when you consider that Jesus lived on this earth and for a brief moment in history, He cast a shadow as the light of this physical world shone on Him. And even still now, He has a physical body. So abiding in the shadow of the Almighty would then be a possibility and a beautiful picture of us abiding in Christ.
With that said I would also submit that Psalm 91 is not referring to God Himself. And in this way complements rather than contradicts James 1:17 or I John 1:5 ("God is Light and in Him there is no darkness at all"). It seems to clearly be referring to God's shelter (and not God) as having a shadow. Just as my house has a shadow. and all who live in my home are under my protection, in the same way all who dwell in God's shelter (temple/tabernacle/kingdom) are under His protection. So I would conclude that "Shadow of the Almighty" in Psalm 91:1 refers to God's shelter...His dwelling place and not God Himself. This would be an accurate title for Elizabeth Elliot's compilation of her husband's journal entries beautifully entitled "In the Shadow of the Almighty" taken directly from Psalm 91. I know the story of Jim Elliot's life and would certainly say he dwelt "in the shelter of the Most High".
So grateful for all of you...humbly,
Chris