Under His Wings

This morning I was reading from Psalm 57:


(NASB)Psalm 57:1-3
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by. [2] I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. [3] He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me -Selah- God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.

My old NIV translates verse 2 as, "To God, who fulfills His purpose for me." Regardless of that particulars of the translation, these are wonderful verses, as God does want to be our refuge, our place of protection, our Father that we run to. In that place, we experience His sovereignty and power to act on our behalf. Its in this place, that our God proves His existence and the fact that He is intimately involved in our lives, even to have a planned purpose for us to fulfill.

There are some who think we are mere chess pieces, most of us pawns, and that God is some far removed God, who is cold and uncerned about our situation, just having His way with us all. There are some who think that God basically started up the world and now does not intervene. There are some who don't believe in God at all. These verses address all these mis-conceptions.

God is a loving and intimate God, one who cares for and protects those that cry out to Him. He is aware of those that attack us, and He does intervene! He gathers us under His wings, a sweet picture of being in His protective embrace, guarded from the enemy. The wings here could be a picture of a mother hen with her chicks gathered under her wings, or it could be referencing the mercy seat, the place of atonement where the songs of the cherubim covered over the top of the Ark of the Covenant, intervening on behalf of those who come to God. The Mercy Seat is a picture of the ministry of Jesus, and what He accomplished through His death. I prefer the later explanation - as in Christ we are saved from all the plans of the enemy, and rescued perfectly from certain death.

In addition, He has plans for us, but does not just let us try to figure them out, but rather guides and directs and even accomplishes things on our behalf. He truly is a Father who cares for us individually, and intimately.