Scripture Reading: “The Lord is thy Keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The Sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.”  (Psalms 121:5-6)
A large majority of the work that I do is outdoors. I love and enjoy what I do; it’s a craft that the Lord taught me.
Yet, because I work outdoors, that means that I’m oftentimes exposed to the elements such as The Sun and heat, wind and cold, and even the rain (and there are some aspects of my work that can be done in the rain, though it isn’t advised).
This past week has been a very hot week, and I’ve endured working directly out in the Sun light. 
If it’s sunny and hot, one of the things that I do when I drive onto a jobsite is find a tree, or a place that will provide shade, and I set up shop there. But the shade is only temporary because the “actual work” is out under the Sun. 
The good thing about that, though, is that I always have a place that I can run to when I get too hot; but sometimes there will be clouds to provide shade as I work. The clouds, every now and then, seem to cover me right when I need them the most.
The other day, right at a point when the heat had gotten to it’s peak, a cloud came and covered me for quite sometime. It was so refreshing.
Afterwards, that experience allowed me to see these particular verses in a different light.
The Psalmist said that The Lord is “thy shade upon they right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day….”. 
God is like the trees and the clouds, in that He provides us a place of refuge, safety, and protection from the heat, and elements of this life, that have a tendency to “smite” us in so many ways.
Mental and emotional stresses from the demands that life can bring can be just as draining and exhausting as laboring out in direct sunlight for a long period of time.
But we have a “shade tree” (in Christ) to resort to when life gets too hot.
The bible promises that He is our shade; and because He is our protector, The Sun (circumstances, loss, disappointments of every sort) shall not smite us.
God will be our Shield from the Sun.

May God’s Grace Continually Be With You,Pastor Lowe