Exposing Shifting Shadows

James 1:17 says, "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow."

James 1:17 was the verse of the day that came up on my app this morning. I've probably read it a hundred times, but never dwelled on it or embraced the concept. So this morning, that's what I did.

The the first half of the last sentence has always resonated with me, but I haven't put the same effort of thought into the later. "or casts a shifting shadow." That is a unique thought to imagine and dwell on.

In the verses prior to 17, James talks about the origin of testing and temptation. Testing comes from God and temptation never comes from Him. Temptation at it's root comes from sin. When you really think on it, it makes sense. Satan does come to tempt us, but he would be unable to without our human nature. Our human nature is born into sin. Because there is sin in us we can be tempted. If we were born pure, there would be no gravitation towards sin. God is pure. God is holy. He has no gravitation or desire towards sin, so God never tempts us. He does test us, but the goal is growth and a better life. The goal of temptation is death by giving into sin and allowing it to grow and take root in our lives.

Now with all that in mind we can go back to verse 17. We've established now that God does not present sin to us because He does not have a sinful nature. Looking back at verse 17 "He never changes or casts a shifting shadow." God's character never changes. It is always consistent. The Bible says He is good. He is love. He is fair. He is righteous. He is our peace. The list goes on and are all testaments to His nature and character. Now what does casts a shifting shadow mean in light of His character? Well what is a shadow? By definition a shadow is "a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface." In order to have a shadow you have to have some semblance of light, but also darkness. The bible says in 1 John 1:5 "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all." God can not be a shadow because there is no darkness in Him to produce the effect.

Now shifting shadow. Shadows can be very scary. Think of any child that has been scared by a shadow monster in their room at night. It turns out to be a tree branch or some other harmless thing, but still manages to stir up an emotion of fear. Shadows can evoke fear because they change and shift in a way we can't predict or control. Without more light we don't really know what it truly is. Is it something to really be scared of or something harmless we interpreted as a threat? God does not evoke us to fear. He does not hide Himself with darkness to stir up those conflicting emotions like shadows do that leave us in torment. God never seeks to torment us. He is not a shifting shadow.

There have been times in my life I thought God was playing games with me and toying with me by hiding. Now I look back and see that wasn't at all what God was doing. God may seem as though He is hiding from us at times, but there is a distinct difference between that and God being a shifting shadow. There are many verses of God hiding His face from us. In the Old Testament, He hides His face by turning away from looking on our sin. David asks in psalms 13 why God is hiding from him.

God hiding now makes me think of playing peek a book or hide and go seek. I played peek a boo with my youngest just the other day along with hide and go seek. I moved my body to the other side of the couch where she couldn't see me. Then I'd pop up and she'd smile and laugh. It was fun and it passed some time. Looking back I notice some truths we can apply here. She wasn't scared when I was "gone" she patiently waited for my return or she came looking for me. Can't we apply this to God?! He may seem far away and hidden at times, but He really is still close to us. God may have us go through seasons where He wants us to patiently wait on Him. Wait for Him to reveal the next step. Wait for Him to intervene in the situation instead of us trying to fix it ourselves. He also may be waiting for us to seek Him. The bible says when we seek Him we'll find Him. (Jeremiah 29:13, Deuteronomy 4:29) It comes down to how bad do we want Him? How hard and how long are we willing to look for Him? We look for what we consider important. How important is God to us really? When He hides His face from us it reveals this truth. Yet, God is not "shifting" because His character, who He is, always remains constant and shifting shadows do not.

Summarizing, looking at James 1:17, we see great truths. God is constant and He does not evoke us to fear and uncertainty like shifting shadows. God is always trustworthy. He does not contain both light and darkness needed to be a shifting shadow because there is no sin in Him. No sin is in His nature. If it seems God is hiding from us today, it may be a test. A test of patience or to expose our heart to where He really ranks in our lives. Or maybe He feels hidden to benefit us. He feels hidden to stir us to dig and dive deeper to find Him and strengthen our trust and resolve. Life can feel long and difficult and we need to trust the one we're following to not only make it through, but to do it with joy. The more we know Him, the more we trust Him. The more we seek Him the more we love Him and we realize He is always for us and never against us. That never changes or shifts!