THE UMBRELLA OF GOD’S PROTECTION
Have you ever been outside with one of your parents when it started to rain? If you didn’t have your own umbrella with you, chances are your Mom or Dad extended their arm to you and invited you to draw near to them, under the protection of their umbrella. If you stayed close to them, you would remain relatively warm and dry. Yet, sometimes our flesh wants to see what it feels like to have rain fall upon us, even though we know being exposed to the rain could lower our immunity system and cause us to get sick. So, we leave the protection of the umbrella. For a few seconds we think it’s fun, and then realize the rain has ruined our physical appearance, drenching our clothes and giving us a bad hair day. Even though we are now a wet mess, our parents invite us to return to the protection of their umbrella. They don’t care about our mistake; they just want to keep us warm and protect us from the elements.
So it is with God, our Father in the spiritual world. He has an umbrella that’s big enough to cover all of His children, all 7.8 billion of us. Yet, it still requires a conscious decision to draw near to Him, if we want to be under the protection of His umbrella. Outside of it, all the temptations of this world rain down on us every day – alcohol, drugs, pornography, greed, pride, gluttony, envy, and countless other sins. As flawed and sinful beings, we sometimes succumb to the desires of the flesh and think we want to experience the temporal high these things can bring, but it doesn’t take long before this is followed by feelings of shame and guilt. We’re now embarrassed to even face the Father, so we run even farther away, thinking we can outrun the rain. But the rain doesn’t stop. The storms of life become worse and worse, until eventually we collapse, worn down by the burden of wet clothes and a heavy heart.
In this moment, when we finally stop running and wipe away the tears from our eyes, we can see the Father in the distance. He’s looking at us with loving eyes, giving us a warm smile, and extending His arm in our direction, inviting us to return to Him and the protection of His umbrella. The Father never forces us to stay with Him, but He always welcomes us with open arms. No matter how many times we have run into the rain of sin and experienced the storms of life, the Father holds no record of wrongs. Instead, He tells us we are loved and He has a plan for us, if we will trust Him with our lives and surrender ALL to Him.
Where do you find yourself today? Do you feel like you’re going through the storms of life on your own? Are you covered in sin? Have you experienced feeling of shame and guilt because of something you’ve done or failed to do? If this is true for you, there is hope for you and His name is Jesus Christ. The only thing you need to do is repent – confess your sins, invite Jesus to be the Lord of your life, and start drawing near to Him day after day through prayer and reading His Word. He can take your dirty, wet rags and wash you to be white as snow. Trust Him with your life today. There will always be storms in life, but His umbrella can offer protection, keeping you warm and dry in His loving arms.
