You who abide in the shelter of the Most High,
who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2
This is one of my favorite photos of Chester. After a long day of walking the C&O, he looks so proud to have brought me safely to our pick-up destination. Since bikers raced by us and people walked other dogs on the trail when we neared river towns, I had to keep him on leash for the 335 miles. Who wants to hold a leash for 335 miles? So everyday I looped my pack’s hip belt through his leash. Chester knew my pace and would “lead” the way. Once some bikers passed us and I overheard: “Oh look, there’s a dog walking his person.”
Chester was along partly for protection. I had never done anything like this and was somewhat apprehensive about walking alone in wilderness areas—except that I had Chester with me. My dog trainer assured me he would rise to any occasion where protection might be needed. So for 335 miles I abided in the shadow of Chester. And for 335 miles I trusted that my husband would find the back road/trail intersection to pick me up at the end of the afternoon and take us back to camp. And then there was a circle of people who prayed for God’s watchful care to guard my way.
You see, sometimes the shadow of the Almighty does not look like a “pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.” (As in the Israelites escaping Egypt.) Sometimes the shadow of the Almighty looks like a community praying, a husband in a truck with GPS and a faithful dog.
Suggestions:
1. Take this verse with you and ponder its meaning for you throughout the day. What do you notice? What do you wonder? What does the shadow of the Almighty look like in your situation?
2. Or read all of Psalm 91 to discover how this verse fits into this psalm.
3. Or comment with a photo of your own that is a window of this verse’s meaning for you.
Tomorrow’s psalm will be Psalm 92.
Starting January 1, 2016, for 150 days I am posting a daily psalm verse with a photo that is a visual meditation on the text for me. Each day a verse from the next psalm is chosen until all 150 psalms have been featured. To participate you may subscribe to my blog at https://elainedent.net or “friend” me on Facebook and watch for the daily links to blog posts. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and most of the photos are from a cell phone or small camera while hiking the Appalachian Trail or the C&O Canal/Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
Sue says
I love this post.
Patty Steinacker Wachter says
Love this. 💕