Copyright © S P Townsend
On the western edge of the township of Westhill, overlooking the village of Skene, is a farm going by the name of Broadshade. Currently houses are being built on this land, If you travel to Westhill you will be aware of roadsigns directing visitors and lorry drivers to Broadshade. Every time I see the name I am reminded of Psalm 91, which speaks of the child of God resting in the shadow of the Almighty.
Of course, the name “broadshade” actually means something quite different. As far as I can understand the meaning of broadshade, or “broad shed” is “a division of land,” or “portion of land” coming originally from the Scandinavian tongue. And it is not without significance that God has actually given a portion of this farmland to the church in Westhill on which to erect a church building for the work of His Kingdom, and for His glory and honour. On the afternoon of Sunday 26th June we will be dedicating this portion of land to the Lord in a service of thanksgiving and celebration.
But I like to think that the meaning of the name will change as this piece of land is dedicated to God, much as God changed the meaning of Abram’s name. God wants this church to be a place where His shadow remains, a place of extensive shade, refuge and shelter. I am reminded of the words of a wonderful hymn, written 160 or so years ago:
Beneath the cross of Jesus
I fain would take my stand,
The shadow of a mighty rock
Within a weary land;
A home within the wilderness,
A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat,
And the burden of the day.
One of the important meanings of shade or shadow in the Bible is that of God’s protection. Psalm 91 commences “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 17:8 “Hide me in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 36:7 “Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 57:1 “I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.” I believe that God intends His Church, wherever His Church meets, to be a place where people find refuge in the shadow of His wings. People who are afflicted and troubled; people who are beset by worries and fears; people who are weary and heavy laden; a place of refuge and shelter; a place of safety. It is not the church building that is a place of safety, nor is it a church denomination or organisation. It is the shadow of his wings that provides this shelter and refuge.
The shadow of His wings is not merely a place of rest, although for the weary it is of course a place to relax in peace, and be revived, much as Jesus slept in the boat on Galilee in the midst of the storm. The shadow of His wings is primarily a place of refuge. “Hide me,” says the psalmist, “in the shadow of your wings, from the wicked who assail me, from my mortal enemies who surround me.” For the disciples in the boat on Galilee the “shadow of His wings” was not the easy bobbing of the boat in harbour, lulling them gently to sleep; it was the refuge and safety of his protecting power out in the midst of the fiercest of storms, with the lightning flashing around them, the thunder crashing, the wind howling, the waves bursting over the bow.
We are all no doubt familiar with the places of shelter available for walkers and climbers in the hills. These bothies are wonderful places of refuge and protection, and you cannot experience that shelter by reading about it in the comfort of your own living room. But if you are out on the hills in the late afternoon in November, and your trek has been slower than you had planned, and evening is rapidly advancing, and then the wind gets up and hail, sleet and snow beat against you, and your legs become increasingly weary as you push through the thickening snow, and the darkness closes in, and the cold penetrates to your very bone marrow, and then through a brief lull in the driving snow you see a bothy before you, and you struggle to reach it and wearily push open the door and fall through it, and it is slammed loudly behind you by the wind, as if in fury at your escape, and you see that others have arrived before you, and a fire is burning brightly in the hearth, and a kettle is whistling, then you know what it means for the bothy to be a shelter and refuge.
In Isaiah 43:1-3 God is described as Israel’s Saviour.
But now, this is what the LORD says - he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
Again the message given is that God is a sanctuary, a place of refuge from flood and fire, a place of safety. Previously Isaiah described this protection God provides most graphically. “Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” (Isa 4:5,6).
The Hebrew word for Saviour is “Moshia”, from the verb “Yasha” to deliver or save, and the word for salvation is “Yeshuah”. Joshua, Hosea and Isaiah are all essentially the same name as Yeshuah, and the Greek form of the name is, of course, Jesus. Jesus was given this name because he would save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21), Jesus said of himself, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus came to Israel as her saviour, but for the most part they rejected him. He said "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Lu 13:34).
How tragic that when the protection of His wings was offered, when a place of refuge and safety was close by, the people refused to enter in. It is as if a weary mountaineer, beset by a storm and the onset of darkness, encountered a bothy but walked right on by without entering.
There are many who need to come to Jesus, the Lord our Saviour. But in order to come they need to hear his call, “Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” I need to challenge us this evening to take that invitation out into the community where we live and work and play. We who rest under the shadow of the Almighty encounter many others who need to find refuge there too. Are you willing to call them, as Jesus did, to share with them the testimony of what great things the Lord has done for you, and to tell them that He loves them too and is ready to receive them?
But perhaps you are not yourself in that place of shelter. O, you have heard that there is a place of safety and refuge under His wings, but you have never personally entered in. Like Jerusalem at the time of Jesus you have not been willing. Perhaps it is the very storms of life that He would shelter you from that have kept you away from Him. Maybe you have suffered hurt and grief and calamity, or have watched others go through such times, and the enemy of your soul has whispered lies in your ear that if God loved you he would not have allowed you or them to go through such suffering. God does not promise to keep us from suffering, but He does promise that all who take refuge in Him will be sheltered, protected and saved. In the passage from Isaiah that we read it is when we pass through the waters that He is with us to keep us from being overwhelmed; it is when we walk through the fire that He will prevent the flames from setting us ablaze. But for whatever reason it is that you walked on past the bothy and did not enter into its refuge, why not decide now to change.
Actually it is not the storms and pressures of life from which we most need refuge. It is actually the law of God himself, the holy and righteous one, that puts us at our greatest peril. In the words of another familiar old hymn,
Rock of Ages cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.
Let the water and the blood, from Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure – cleanse me from its guilt and power.
Not the labours of my hands could fulfil Thy law’s demands.
Could my tears for ever flow, could my tears no respite know,
All for sin could not atone; Thou must save and Thou alone.
The Apostle Peter said that there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Will you not come to Him now to receive His salvation, to shelter under the shadow of His wings?
Perhaps you have entered into that place of salvation, but for some reason you do not feel yourself protected and overshadowed by His wings. The psalmist said, “I sing in the shadow of your wings” (Ps 63:7) but you haven’t felt like singing for a long time. Maybe like the disciples in the boat your eyes have focussed on the force of the storm besetting you. Unlike Jesus, who slept peacefully through the storm, content in the knowledge of His Father’s protection, they were petrified by the assault upon the boat. Focus your eyes again upon Jesus. Hear again His word, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you.” (Isa 43:1,2).
Copyright © S P Townsend