Shadow Dwellers

The shadow dwellers are an unusual breed.  They do not require any light on what they do in ministry for Christ.  They are content to do what they know God has called them to do.  Often they stand in the shadow of someone who is in the spotlight of public attention and adulation.  Most religious historians recognize the name of Charles Finney, a great evangelist of the 19th century who is credited for a great spiritual awakening in this country.  Daniel Nash was one who stood in Finney's shadow, or perhaps, more appropriaely one who knelt in Finney's shadow.    

Before Finney made it to the place where the meeting was to be held, Daniel Nash had already arrived and set up his place of prayer.  Days before the first sermon, Nash was praying and while the sermons were being preached, Nash was praying.  No one except the evangelist himself knew what Nash was doing and understood the power of this shadow dweller's ministry.  When Nash died, Finney soon left the evangelism ministry and became a pastor of a prestigious congregation.  Nash and Finnery were a team and once the bond was broken, the evangelism that changed the face of the country ended.    

No one appreciates the shadow dwellers.  The most prominenet shadow dweller and role model for all shadow dwellers is John the Baptist.  When pressed about who He was, he would declare that he was the voice annoucning that something new was about to happen through the life of the One he knew to be the Lamb of God.  (John 1:19-34)  He soiught no attention.  He stayed out of the spotlight.  He only wanted to point those around him to Jesus.  There is much each of us could learn about how we are to live from this old shadow dweller and others who have walked in his footsteps.