He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. (Psalm 91:4)
Now, there is a counterintuitive statement if I ever heard one! “Under His wings you will find refuge.” The psalmist tells us that we will find refuge behind a fortress of feathers — not in structures of brick or stone or steel, as we might expect.
I am reminded of the children’s story of the three little pigs. Two of the pigs built homes, one out of straw and the other of sticks; the big, bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew both those homes down. The third little pig built his home out of bricks, and the wolf, no matter how fiercely he huffed and puffed, could not blow it down.
That story makes sense to us. A brick house will surely weather the storm winds that blow far better than any house of straw or sticks possibly can. But in God’s economy, the opposite is true. We have received the promise from God –and it is impossible for God to lie — that under His feathers we will find security that cannot be shaken. No wave of challenge, no wind of confrontation can harm us when we are sheltered under the wings of our Lord.
The unbelieving world looks on and considers it foolish that we trust in God for our daily bread and our nightly rest. The world trusts in material things that can be seen and touched, but their hope is badly misplaced. As David wrote in Psalm 20:7-8, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.” David knew this truth from personal experience. It was he who stood before the giant Goliath and said coolly, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty” (1 Samuel 17:45). David knew that the Lord was his shield and rampart, and God had proven His faithfulness time and time again.
Only the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could have moved the the writer of Psalm 91 to come up with such a statement about the feathery fortress provided by His God. Charles Spurgeon commented, “Had [the verse] been invented by an uninspired man it would have verged upon blasphemy, for who should dare to apply such words to the Infinite Jehovah?” But here we see a divine disposition of unimaginable compassion and tenderness displayed as our Lord covers us with a fortress of feathers. And no matter how hard this world huffs and puffs, no ill wind will ever be able to blow our holy house down.
The key, then, is for us to remain under God’s wings and not venture out on our own. Stay close to your Lord! Continue to trust and depend upon Him, and lean not on your own understanding. And when you do find yourself buffeted by the storm winds of this life, keep the last portion of today’s passage firmly in mind: his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Even when we wander — which which we are all prone to do in our sinful faithlessness — Jesus remains faithful to us. “Never will I leave you,” He assures us; “never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). We are forever safe in our almighty fortress of feathers because His faithfulness endures forever and ever . . . amen.
Let that truth set you free to be all God is calling you to be.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 