THE CANOPY

"...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."

-- Isaiah 4:5-6

            What an awesome picture of the Church consumed by the glory of her God. 

            His presence is like a canopy and under the canopy, where His Church dwells, His glory permeates everything.

            His presence means shade in the heat of the day.

            His presence means refuge and protection in the harsh realities of life.

            The glory of God in the midst of His people is something I wonder about a lot.  I don't want to push the image too much but it reminds me of dew on an autumn morning.  Everything is touched by it.  Everything feels it presence. 

            So it is with the glory of God.  It falls into every nook and cranny.  Nothing escapes its presence.  Life becomes lived out in His consuming presence.  Every fiber of our soul comes to feel the impact of His presence.  We don't know life outside of it.

            His permeating presence envelops us in intimacy so that life becomes lived out in the embrace of God. 

            Who He is becomes the dominating influence in our lives and the things that move Him, move us;  the things that grieve Him, grieve us. 

            Who He is becomes our strength  as we discover in the very real moments of our lives the sheltering grace of God.

            Who He is becomes a cooling shade in the midst of a hot and humid life experience.

            Who He is becomes the restoring refuge where we are not only protected but refreshed and re-energized to write the chapters of our lives that are yet to be written.

            Who He is becomes a hiding place where we come into His presence and discover the peace that passes all ability to understand and where we are made new in our spirits just because we have been with Him.

            Life under the canopy --that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. 

            Life lived out in the all-consuming grace of Almighty God --that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

            Life caught up in the things that move the heart of God -- that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

            I'm not sure I understand what "glory" really means but it must have something to do with a sense of awe and greatness and wonder and amazement --something that can't really be described but must be personally experienced in order to be comprehended.   So when I think about the glory of God under the canopy I find my heart pounding and my knees shaking and my spirit awakening and my eyes tearing and my pulse quickening and my mind racing and my emotions flooding. 

            Life in the glory of God, under the canopy of God, caught up in the being of God, and embraced daily by the reality God -- who would have thought it?