“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.” (v.7)
Shortly after the great forest fire in Yellowstone National Park in 1988, a news service reported that forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched like a statue on the ground at the base of a tree. Seeing what seemed to be movement, he pushed the bird aside with a stick, and three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze arrived she spread her wings and covered her offspring while the heat scorched her small body, remaining steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings had lived.
When David said, “the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings,” some believe he was referring to the wings of the cherubim over the ark. But it seems more likely that David was using a picture of the “protective love” of a mother bird over her young, to describe how God covers us. Jesus used this same picture Himself when He lamented over Jerusalem saying: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37). Then, He later gave His life willingly for us all.
Thank you LORD for your protective covering in our lives and the salvation you provide to all who will come under Your wings.
The Truth: “For it is by God’s lovingkindness that you have been saved, through your faith. It is not due to yourselves; the gift is God’s” (Ephesians 2:8)
