He Shall Cover You
“He shall
cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you
shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield
and buckler” (Psalm 91:4)
On a shelf in our back yard, you can
see a formerly empty one-gallon container that
originally held a plant. I say it was “formerly”
empty because it now contains a relatively large
inhabitant and it’s likely that smaller residents
are also in it. The large occupant is a beautiful
grey dove who can barely fit into the container. We
assume there are smaller doves in the bucket though
we have not yet seen them. They may still be inside
eggs or they may have hatched – we’re not sure about
their present status.
But we do know that the mother dove,
the larger inhabitant, is constantly in that bucket.
No matter what time of the day or night we go out to
the garage to check on the laundry or whatever
excuse we can come up with to check on the mama
dove, there she IS, at attention, guarding her
little ones. Her grey tail rigidly sticks up on one
side of the container and her head juts up at the
other side, with alert eyes, watching our every
move.
There is also another dove in the
immediate area, likely her mate, playing HIS role in
these events. We assume he is with her, for he flies
upward suddenly from various locations around the
property, startled by our unexpected moves into
“his” territory. We think of it as “our” house – he
seems to disagree. The back lawn is three feet tall
at this point and the weeds are very large – we
don’t go out there anymore. It is thought that the
male is faithfully providing the food needed by his
mate and the soon-to-be-born little ones. The female
cannot be fully seen, though when glimpsed, she
seems to be well fed.
What IS especially interesting is
the never ending devotion she has for her offspring
in that nest. IF she leaves them, it must be only
for a few moments at any time. I actually did see
that the bucket was empty at one point, but then she
spotted me and immediately jumped out of the jungle
that used to be our back yard and resumed her
“at-attention” posture in the bucket. Those babies
are SAFE under her wings.
And so are you; SAFE under the
protective and nurturing “wings”
of God. Psalm 91 is wonderful; and if you haven’t
read it for awhile, go read it soon. It’s worth it,
for the Psalm contains excellent information that
everyone needs – Almighty God is watching over you
and me. Let’s take a look through that Psalm. It
begins:
“He who dwells
in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty.” Just like
those babies are safe with Mama in that one-gallon
container, YOU are safe in the “shadow”
of Almighty God. It continues, “I
will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my
fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.’” Note
that it is His function to watch over you, but yours
to “TRUST” in Him. You
really should entrust yourself to Him, by the way,
because the truth is that ALL of us are just as
needy as the little ones in that bucket.
We’ve been able to observe the
effects of verse three in the lives of many people
we have known. It says, “Surely He shall deliver you
from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous
pestilence.” Sometimes His deliverance occurs in
THIS life, but other times as we have watched and
prayed, we have observed that He takes them out of
this life and delivers them to a better kind of
safety – forever. His definition of “healed” is not
like ours.
In verses five and six, right after
our verse for today, we find these words: “You
shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of
the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence
that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that
lays waste at noonday.” The fact is that most
people are OFTEN afraid, and here’s the antidote for
fear: John the Apostle, who walked with Jesus Christ
for three years and was filled with the Holy Spirit
of God, said, “Perfect love
casts out fear.” He also said, “he
who fears is not made perfect in love” (1
John 4:18). Our love is not perfect and it adds to
our fear. God’s love IS perfect, and when we invite
Him into our hearts and lives, He brings His perfect
love with Him. To trust in Him is to be given His
love, and the more we have of HIM, the less we will
be afraid.
We can’t let our eyes remain on
people – we must look to the Lord. Verse seven says,
“A thousand may fall at your
side and ten thousand at your right hand; but it
shall not come near you.” Most people,
whether they are religious or not, don’t have faith
in the Lord. To trust in Him is your greatest need,
but the various cultures of this world teach
something else – they urge us to seek help from
other human beings. We copy others, and most of them
lack simple faith. We are to love people, but TRUST
in the Lord.
The Psalm continues: “Only
with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of
the wicked” (verse 8). Those who reject God
will suffer in this life and then will be cast away
from Him – forever. But “because
you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the
Most High, your habitation, no evil shall befall
you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling”
(verses 9-10). Now, you MAY have trouble in this
life. Sickness may strike us or our loved ones, and
the houses we build may be lost, but God is with you
and me. Yes, difficulties come, but to trust in Him
is to find they are only the shadows of THIS world -
you are going to another, better place, where
shadows never come.
The next verses reveal something
wonderful: There are “angels”
assigned to watch over you. And their chief purpose
is “to keep you in all your
ways” (verse eleven & forward). They are
assigned to keep you in the “secret
place of the Most High,” by helping you avoid
the supernatural “stone…
lion…
cobra…
and serpent” that may
otherwise harm you.
Our job is to “set
(our) love upon (God),”
and though there are very real dangers for us, just
as there are real dangers for those tiny birds in
our back yard, He “WILL
deliver” you from all harm (verse 14). When
those little birds call out to their mother, she
will answer them, and even more surely, when you
call upon God, He promises, “I
will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I
will deliver him and honor him. With long life I
will satisfy him, and show him my salvation”
(verses15-16). Trust in Him and you WILL see and
receive the salvation of the Lord.
Today’s verse reveals that “He
shall cover you with His feathers, and under His
wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your
shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:4). The “shield
and buckler” we all need is Jesus Christ - He
IS “the truth” of God
(John 14:6). Let’s take refuge in Him right now:
Lord, thank You for watching over
me. I trust in You now. In Jesus Name. Amen.
