Beneath His Wings
Scriptures: Psalm 91:1-6; Matthew 23:37; Malachi 4:2; Isaiah 40:31
Introduction:
Psalm 91:2-6 says “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 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.”
I shared this story with the congregation last week so for some of you this will be a repeat. When I was growing up, I never wanted to be the adult; to have to make the decisions and be the one in charge. I loved that my parents took care of everything and all I had to do was stay under the covering they provided. When something went wrong in the house, it was not my responsibility to fix it; it was theirs. No matter what was happening in my life as a child, my parents were always there to take care of me. During that time of my life, as it was with each of you, I was covered under their “wings” and walked in the shadow of their protection. I was reminded of this last week while we were on vacation.
While we were out in Washington DC, we went to visit George Washington Mt. Vernon estate. As we were waiting to board a cruise ship of the Potomac River, I looked up at this tall tree where an eagle had its nest. The eagle was sitting there and at times would spread it massive wings. There were also small chicks in the nest that would stick their heads up every now and then. As I stared at this nest, I noticed something strange. There were several small birds that had made their home under the eagle’s nest. They were flying around and landing under the nest and the eagle did not seem to mind at all. These smaller birds apparently understood that no other bird of prey would attack that nest and they would be safe. They also could eat the crumbs that fell through the holes in the nest that the chicks did not eat. When I saw this I thought about Jesus’ interaction with the Canaanite woman who was seeking Jesus’ help for her daughter. Jesus told her it was not right to throw the children’s bread to the dogs. But the woman said, “Yes Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.” (Matthew 15:21-28) These small birds where feeding off the crumbs that fell from the master’s table (the eagle).
As I watched this nest for several minutes I thought about our relationship with Christ; my relationship with my parents and finally I thought my relationship with each of you – as your pastor. In these messages over the next couple of weeks, I want to examine each of these relationships from the viewpoint of walking beneath the wings for protection. This morning I will spend time focusing on our being beneath the wings of Christ. Next week, we will look at being under the wings of a parent figure which trains us for how we take others under our wings. And finally I will conclude this series by looking at how we can incorporate the learning from being under the wings of Christ and our parents to how as Christians we should be spreading our wings to allow others to receive from us until they are able to stand up and stretch their own wings.
As we consider the focus of this series, I want you to understand a couple of points that I will continue to make during the next couple of weeks. The first point pertains to the purpose of why a bird would spread its wings over its chicks. The reason is for protection – to cover them. I recently ready a story (not sure if it’s true or not, but it fits this message), about a farmer who had a fire in the barn. After the fire was put out, the farmer walked through the ruins. He came across a hen that was burned to death. He slightly kicked the dead hen with his foot and to his surprise there was movement. The movement did not come from the dead hen, but from the chicks under her body. She had spread her wings and covered her chicks and gave her life that they might live. When a bird covers its chicks with its wings, it is in an effort to protect them.
The second point I want you to focus on for this message pertains to a shadow. A shadow by definition is a shade that is cast when light reflects around a solid object. All of us cast a shadow in the presence of light. The only time you are not casting a shadow is when you are in total darkness (a message for later). The shadow that you cast spiritually should shade those who are close to you. Keep these two points in mind. Now let’s begin this morning with the verses we read earlier.
I. Our Refuge and Covering
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.’ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 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.”
As you read Psalms 91, it speaks to the dangers that existed during the times when the psalmist wrote it which also continue to exist today. This psalm opens with the testimony that anyone who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. This first verse speaks to the security that we have through Christ. Let me use this example. What does a small child do if they are outside in the yard with you and they get scared? Maybe they hear a dog barking or see something that scares them. What do they do? They run to you and often grab your leg and stand behind you. This is not something that you teach a child to do, it is done through instinct. That child knows that when they are scared, they run to the person who is bigger than them for protection. They do not doubt; they just act on instinct. This is what is captured here in this verse. I dwell in God’s secret place and I am under His shadow. In order for me to be “under” His shadow, I must be standing so close to Him that His shadow falls on me. When I am that close to God, I do not have to worry about anything because as soon as something happens that scares me, I can quickly run to Him and grab His leg because I am standing in His shadow and He is close by me. Does this made sense? If it doesn’t, just pay close attention to the kids around you and their responses when they get scared, you will see exactly what I am saying.
Look down at verse four. It says, “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” Remember the story of the hen that died protecting her chicks? Whenever you read about wings in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, the Hebrews used the term to demonstrate God’s protection. They took something found it nature among the birds and applied it spiritually to their relationship with God. In this verse the writer speaks of God spreading out His wings to cast a shadow of protection over us. We talk all the time about God’s divine protection and how sometimes when we are rebelling we step out from under that protection. Well if what happens in nature applied spiritually, when we do that do you not think that God would do His best to get us back under His protection? Absolutely He would and sometimes it is a battle for Him to do so because we want to be out doing our own thing. Now here is the good part. Look at verses five and six. “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.” It did not say you “may not be afraid” it says you “shall not” be afraid. This is not up for debate! If you are walking under the wings of God and He is protecting you, when the terror comes by night you may experience a moment of fear, but then you realize that you are protected. Let the terror’s come, which they will, but you are protected. I remind myself that I am protected often when there are things happening around me that I cannot control. Let’s look at one additional Scripture that bears this out. Turn to Matthew 23:37.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” In this verse and the verses that follow, Jesus is crying out for Jerusalem. He is troubled by their resistance to the help and protection that He had been trying to provide to them. They killed the prophets that were sent to them, those who could have led them to life. In this verse Jesus states how He wanted to gather them together just as a hen does her chicks and place them under His wings – but they were not willing! Jesus used an example that they could understand – a hen gathering her chicks under her wings. This is something that has always existed in nature and something that those who have been around chickens have probably witnessed. He wanted them to have an understanding of what He was trying to do, how God had reached out to them through the prophets. He was trying to protect them and yet they refused the protection even though Jesus was fulfilling a promise that had been made to them.
Malachi 4:2 says “But to you who fear My name, The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves.” What this verse promises is that the day would come when Jesus would provide everything they needed and that day truly came with Jesus having healing in His wings. That day came when Jesus walked the earth and that day remains for each of us today. The only difference is that we have been empowered to fulfill and complete the works of Christ here on earth. Not only have we received everything we need, we have been given much to be shared with the world at large.
II. Our New Assignment
Let’s turn to one additional Scripture that is very familiar to all of us. I want to close out this morning with that Scripture because it is very prophetic for us, if we read it correctly. As we read this Scripture this morning, I want you to think of it as a personal text message or email that you have just received. It is a message for you speaking to your new assignment – your new job – as you have just received a promotion. Rev. Fulks took us to this Scripture last week for those of you who were in attendance. Turn to Isaiah 40:31. It reads: “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
We have always read this verse in this manner – but let read it for what it is saying to us today. This was written prior to Christ coming and for those receiving this message they were still waiting on Him. We did not have to wait on Christ – He was here when we were born. I know we read this as waiting on the Lord when we are going through tough times, but I want you to read this a little differently this morning. We had to wait to understand Who Christ was and what He would mean to us – but the wait is over. So let’s read it for what it is telling us. Again, think of this as God speaking directly to you today. I will read this from my perspective.
“Rodney, I waited for you and have strengthened you, as a matter of fact, I am continuing to renew your strength daily – you shall never be weak again. I have mounted eagle’s wings upon you so that you might stretch out and protect those that I send to you, you shall do my work without being weary, you shall walk and not faint. Welcome to My team.”
The reason that I read this interpretation for you is that I want you to make it personal. I did not want you to read this verse as if you should still be waiting. The wait is over. It is time to move! He has given us everything that we need and He continues to renew it everyday. This is the reason Paul wrote “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:23) because when your spirit is renewed continually it affects your physical health as well. This is something that has already been made available to us – we need to take it now and begin to walk in it.
When Val and I were at the bank on Friday, I shared with her that since I returned from vacation that I have been behind. I told her my mind was tired and I had yet to write my sermon. Val, being who she is, said “I am sure you have one stashed away that you can pull out.” As easy as that sounds it not that easy in practice. You see, God has a message, but my spirit was so tired and I had so much going on I could not get quiet enough to hear it. Our bodies may get tired and with a little rest, we are fine. But when our spirits get tired and we are heavy laden, then we need to be renewed. Sleep and rest does not renew our spirit; that renewal comes through the Holy Spirit. We must take the time to renew so that we may accomplish what God has called us to do.
This morning as I close I want to leave you with this: we have the opportunity to be beneath the wings of Christ; to walk in His shadow. The only way we can walk in Christ’s shadow is that we are so close to Him that when the light hits Him His shadow falls on us. If we are too far away from Him, His shadow will not rest on us. When He spreads His wings, if we are too far away from Him, we will be out from under Him. When we became Christians, we came under Christ’s wings, under His protection. As long as we are walking with Him, we have nothing to fear. But this protection is not just for us, it is for everyone. Our jobs are to search the world over for those who are not under this protection so that we can offer them a life line. If you were walking outside and it was pouring rain, would you not share you umbrella with the person walking next to you if they did not have one? Well think about being beneath Christ’s wings as being under an umbrella in a storm. The umbrella protects most of you from the rain, but only the parts of you that is covered by the umbrella. When you have a large one, then you can share it with a friend. I am asking you to not keep Christ to yourself, begin to share Him.
Isaiah 40:31 says we will mount up with eagle’s wings – not on eagles’ wings. We have misquoted this many times. If I am on eagles wings, I am subject to go where the eagle goes. If the wings are mine, I control them and I have the ability to spread them out and take others under my wings. I can continue to do this until their wings have grown strong enough and they are able to stretch theirs out to others and the cycle continues.
Are you stretching out your wings to allow others to have shelter under them?
Until next week, may God’s blessings be yours.
