A couple of weeks ago, I came across a scripture with a great “hook” for a song. A hook line is a memorable phrase that often becomes the theme and even the title of a song. It came from Ps. 17:8, which says, “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”
I did a little investigating as to what the psalmist was referring to by “the shadow of your wings,” and discovered that David used this imagery in several of his psalms to convey the idea of finding protection under God’s care. Like a mother bird will hide her babies under her wing to keep them safe from the weather or other dangers, we are sheltered from the dangers of this life as we stay close to the Lord and Savior.
Before King David ever wrote his first psalm, his great grandfather, Boaz, in the book of Ruth used the same imagery as he asks the Lord to bless Ruth, who had taken his people as her people and his God as her God. In Ruth 2:12, he said, “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Isreal, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” This imagery must have been passed down through the “DNA” of Boaz to his son, Obed, to his son, Jesse, and then to his son, David.
In Psalms 36:7, David praises God with, “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
While being threatened by his enemies, in Psalms 57:1 David cries out to his God Most High, “Have mercy on me, O God…….for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”
David renewed his commitment to God in Psalms 61:4, “I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.”
And again, David gives honor to the Lord for his love and help in Psalm 63. In verse 7 and 8 he states, “Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.”
In the New Testament, Jesus himself used a similar imagery when referring to himself like a hen longing to protect her chicks under her wings. In Matt. 23:37, he expresses his sorrow over his chosen people who have rejected the safety of his salvation that he came to provide for them. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem…….how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” The idea of Jesus comparing himself to a rather humble animal, a mother hen, reminds me of how he later became the humble Lamb of God, who gave his life to protect us from eternal separation from the Lord.
Stay in the shadow, the shelter and the refuge of God’s wings as you journey through this life. You may possibly need to seek His eternal shelter for the first time in your life by accepting Jesus as your Savior. His heart breaks for your soul, for now and for eternity, just like it was broken for those in Jerusalem.
By staying in the shelter and protection of the Lord’s loving “wings,” we can experience the imagery conveyed in another of my favorite scriptures. Is. 40:31 declares that “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles: they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.”
Are you drawing strength from the shelter of God’s wings and soaring on the wings of eagles as you serve Him? Give it some thought! Your fellow “chick,” Nancy