Many people feel like they are living in the shadows.  Many feel unseen, overlooked, and forgotten.  At this time in history, many feel as though they are living under a shadow of foreboding.  They are shadowed by fear, depression, anxiety, and comparison.  Some feel trapped in their homes due to lockdowns, age, poor health, and poverty.  Deadlines loom over some.  Financial crises over others.  Decisions hover that seem incorrect no matter which ones are chosen.  The sun seems long gone.

But the thought that keeps coming to me this week is a remembrance of the shadow of God’s wings.  Several verses in the Bible talk about the wings of the Almighty.  They bear us up, and they cover us.  They lift us to heights we could never reach on our own, and they shelter us from the storms that rage around us.

God holds close His own.  His children are under His watchful and loving gaze at all times.  We are seen.  We are known.  We are not forgotten.

He always offers a refuge, a place of quiet rest near to His heart.¹   Will we allow Him to gather us close?  Will we enter the refuge beneath the shadow of His wings? 

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Within thy circling power I stand,

On every side I find thy hand;

Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,

I am surrounded still with God.²

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How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 36:7 NKJV)

Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 17:8 NKJV)

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by. (Psalm 57:1 NKJV)

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.”

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: 1–2, 4 NKJV)

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Notes

¹ See the song “Near to the Heart of God” by Cleland Boyd McAfee

² Words from “Psalm 139 Part 1,” a poem by Isaac Watts

Photo 1: a young Say’s phoebe waiting on its parent for a meal while sheltered in a ponderosa pine

Photo 2: Canada goose and goslings

©Original text and photos Francee Strain, January 30, 2021