How precious is your lovingkindness, o God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings.
Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
Under his wings you shall take refuge.
Psalm 36:7; 63:7; 91:4.
The barn is on fire! The desperate farmer fights the fire with all his energy. The cowshed, the henhouse and the farmhouse, too, are all threatened by the flames. Finally the fire service and some volunteers get it under control.
Concerned about his livestock the farmer makes a tour of the farmyard. He is relieved to find that they have come to no harm. But where is the hen with her eight chicks? She is sitting slumped down, her head hanging, her feathers blackened. She is dead. The farmer picks her up by her lifeless wings, and eight chirruping chicks emerge. The hen had gathered them under her wings, anticipating the danger. She could have run away herself, but her chicks had not the strength to do so. She had given her life to rescue them.
Giving His life to save others is what Jesus Christ, the Son of God has done. To spare us divine judgment He bore the punishment for our sins, sacrificing His life on the cross in dying for us sinners. And there is more to it than even that. To all who believe in Him He grants new life, eternal life. Being saved for eternity believers have a safe refuge from the manifold dangers of life. The Bible calls it “the wings” of the Almighty. Who would refuse the secure protection that God offers us?
Image: By Carl Bloch – http://freechristimages.org and Sidsel Maria Søndergård, Gerd Rathje, Jens Toft, Carl Bloch 1834 -1890, ISBN 978-87-987465-9-1 p. 313, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7866359