If you call Cyprus ‘home’, then you know that in August there is one thing on most of our minds: Where can we find relief from the summer heat?
As tourism reaches its peak, and the vacationers come seeking to remove everything between the sun and themselves, locals are seeking anything to put between it and themselves.
For many of us islanders, the song of the cicadas serves as a taunting reminder of the suns slow and relentless march through the sky. As it keeps rising, we keep seeking shelter — closing shutters, drawing blinds, timing errands, organizing our schedules based on anticipated exposure.
With summer reaching its peak, every tree, awning and shaded space becomes a haven – more valuable the longer the season goes on. In June, shade is a preference. By August, it’s a strategy. You start noticing which side of the house stays cool in the morning. You park your car where it’s least likely to become an oven on your return. Nobody teaches you this. Instinct does.
Most of us never give shade a second thought in other seasons throughout the year. But come summertime, whether we realize it or not, shade becomes a serious priority. Heat related medical issues strain Cyprus’s health system as hospitals swell with patients suffering from heat exhaustion, sunstroke and dehydration.
Protection from the sun is so important, that people will pay a lot of money to businesses who create shade covers for their homes, businesses or events.
Taking all of this into consideration, we see that shade isn’t a matter of preference; it’s a matter of survival, which is precisely why Biblical authors used the importance of ‘shade’ to communicate vital spiritual truths.
Consider this passage from the Book of Psalms,
“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 121:5–6
The middle eastern sun was even more dangerous in ancient times than it is to us with all our modern conveniences. A person’s ability to provide refuge from the heat could mean the difference between life and death. They didn’t have the luxury of traveling in air-conditioned cars, shopping indoors, or seeking refuge in climate-controlled homes. The Psalmist was writing from under a relentless Middle Eastern sun. The concept of God being “a shade on your right hand” carried powerful implications, as it does still today.
Consider the psalm again for a moment. It doesn’t read, “the Lord will MAKE you shade”; instead, it states the Lord “IS your shade”. In other words, he’s using metaphorical language to communicate God’s protective nature to those who look to Him. He’s using the imagery of relief from unmerciful earthly elements to show us God’s heart in protecting us from the punishing realities of life.
The psalm isn’t about exposure to the sun or any other elements at all. It’s about God’s protection and presence in a fallen world.
Notice that the author writes that the Lord is your shade “…at your right hand.” He’s not high above, in some abstract, cosmic sense, but right beside you. That matters! We tend to think of God’s protection the way we think of a roof; fixed, structural, impersonal. But the psalmist pictures God as a companion walking with us, constantly positioning Himself between us and the blasting heat of trials and difficulties.
The weight of the metaphor is covenantal in nature, not architectural. The Lord isn’t a lifeless shade structure we sit under. He’s a Person who shields us with His own presence.
The most beautiful part is that this shade has a name! And His name is Jesus.
What do I mean? The Old Testament (the Bible history prior to Jesus’ incarnation) gives us picture after picture of God’s protective nature; “a shade at the right hand, a cloud by day, a fire by night, a shelter from storm, a refuge in times of trouble”, and every one of them is accurate and true. But every one of them was also incomplete – a promise still waiting to be ultimately fulfilled. The Bible states those Old Covenant ‘shadows’ (Heb 8:5) found their embodiment and true realization when “…the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1:14
Jesus actually embodied the truth of God’s protective heart. The greatest expression of this is seen in the cross, when Jesus, the Son of God, literally stood between us and the full force of God’s fiery judgment for sin. He took the brunt of God’s righteous judgment for sin on the cross, so that we wouldn’t have to. The cross is the most radical picture of God positioning himself between us and the impending judgment that is to come. Whether it
When Jesus rose from the dead, before His ascension, he left His followers with this promise:
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20.
Did you catch that? Always! Until the end of the age! This is the psalmist’s metaphor fulfilled and personalized in Christ. “The Lord is your shade at your right hand” becomes flesh and blood in Jesus, a Savior who doesn’t just shelter you from a distance, but walks beside you, permanently, through every season this fallen world can produce. He is not a shadow that lengthens and disappears with the sun. He is not a covering you find only when the need becomes desperate. His covering is forever — because he is the promise the psalmist was reaching for all along.
We see the fullest manifestation of this promise in the final revelation. “The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. ” Revelation 7:16–17
The hope set forth in the psalmists metaphor was always meant to be found in Christ.
And He’s not hard to find. He’s not hidden behind church rituals or reserved for the religious elite. He simply calls us to trust and believe: to believe that he bore what you couldn’t, your sins, and that he rose again, and that He is, even now, offering you the salvation He promised. He is not waiting for you to earn your way in. He is simply waiting for you to come.
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” Romans 10:12-13
By Pastor Tim Mattox
Paphos Calvary Chapel,
www.calvarycyprus.com