When God gives you a word, you often get an appetite for more.
Last Sunday during the sermon I heard at my church, God gave me a word. More like a phrase. “The shadow of his hand”
It comes from Isaiah 49:1-2
“Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver.”
It stayed in my mind. I couldn’t figure out what it meant. Then my wife gave me the last piece I needed.
You see my wife is about 7 months pregnant. We have been keeping track of the baby’s development. She told me the other day. The baby can already tell the difference between light and dark. I read that sometimes mothers will put a light on their belly to feel the baby move. They say the reason the baby moves is because his eyes are not fully developed and he is trying to move away from the light. They are not ready for the light. They must stay in the shadow. So when I put my hand on my wife’s belly, my son is literally under that shadow of the hand of his father. When everyone else places their hand on this belly, I know they are excited with us and curious. But as his father, I know that I’m preparing everything for my son for his next stage in life. Then God, who is our Father, spoke to me.
A reason many of you feel stuck in a season of life that you cannot change is because God has you in a process. You can try to get out early but you wouldn’t be fully formed yet. You wouldn’t be complete. You would be premature. And God doesn’t want that for you. He still wants you to abide in the shadow of his hand. To make you stronger. To prepare you for what’s to come. To launch you. He is developing in you all the power, capabilities and skill you will need right now in this season.
The Lord wants you to abide in his shadow now because He knows one day you may have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. But you will be ready. You will for no evil. Why? Because God is with you. - Fabian