Psalm 91:4 Faithful to cover
He shall cover
you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall
take refuge;
His faithfulness shall be
your shield and buckler.
When you picture feathers or wings, do you typically think of military shields? That’s not my customary train of thought, but this unusual pairing reveals how intensely protective God feels about you. His heart brims with the desire to cover you when danger lurks and to be your shield against incoming attacks.
He shall cover
you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall
take refuge…
The Creator has always had a bird’s eye view of the animal kingdom, and He chose—out of all His creatures—to liken Himself to an eagle when revealing His protective nature toward His people.
In the Song of Moses, it says of God’s relationship to Jacob, “…He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11).
David also use this same imagery in five of his Psalms. In Psalm 57, you can hear his anguished devotion when he cries out, “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 (verse 1). I love this! In the hour of greatest desperation, you, like David, have the right to hunker down under the shadow of God’s wings until destruction passes you by.
Not only did God’s people the Jews have access to the powerful shelter of God’s wings, but the Moabite Ruth also found refuge under His protective wings as well. Boaz spoke highly of Ruth’s deep devotion to and care for her mother-in-law Naomi when he said, “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge” (Ruth 2:12).
David, Moses, and Ruth each found refuge under the majestic wings of the Lord. The Almighty God is still ready and willing to cover anyone who seeks His help; He will never tire of protecting you.
…His faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler.
When I come to this section in prayer, I am reminded of another shield—the mighty shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). But how many times—instead of believing your faith could quench every incoming missile—you’ve felt absolutely worthless? The enemy works overtime to make you feel like a complete faith-failure.
I felt like that more times than I could count…until this verse came alive to me. You see, God’s faithfulness itself is your shield! You don’t have to have monster faith; your God has enough faithfulness for the two of you! Just put your faith into His faithfulness, and when you feel weak, your trust is no longer in your own ability to be some kind of faith giant; your trust is in God!
And when it comes to God’s protective care over you? Place your trust fully in His faithfulness to do what it takes to keep you safe.
One night as a thirty-something woman, I had been passing out gospel tracts on the St. Louis Arch grounds with a group from my church. Because I was somewhat “seasoned” at this sort of thing, an inexperienced young couple were paired with me. Toward the end of the evening I was sharing Jesus with a young woman. The couple got bored and wandered off to find the rest of the group. I didn’t care because she was very interested in giving her life to Christ.
Soon, her eyes popped open as big as silver dollars, and she scrambled away. I turned and immediately was surrounded by a group of six to eight men. As they closed in around me, the oddest thing happened. I had a vision!
No longer was I standing near the top of the south stairway of the Arch; I was at a Charles Capps meeting at my church! There Brother Capps stood, preaching with his Arkansas twang, “My brother, sister, Jesus SAID ‘Let us GO to the other side of the lake’; and if Jesus SAID ‘Let us GO to the other side of the lake’, then no wave, no wind, no storm could stop Him!”
And with that, there I was, back at the Arch, surrounded by the same six to eight men. I looked across the way and saw the old Riverboat McDonald’s. I SAID to the men, “I am GOING to McDonald’s!”
I walked right through that circle; no one touched me. As I descended the long stairway, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly, “Walk. Don’t run. Hold your head high, and don’t look back.”
There were whistles and catcalls as I fearlessly walked across Leonor K. Sullivan Blvd. to the gangplank leading to McDonald’s. Down the gangplank I marched, opened the door to the Golden Arches and saw my whole team—including the young couple. In an instant it dawned on me what God had just shielded me from. My knees became Jello, and I wobbled to the counter to order a bag of fries and a Coke.
God’s faithfulness was my shield and buckler that night; and the good news is that He will always be the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Put your faith in the faithfulness of the Lord and take refuge under His all-encompassing wings!
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
Read MorePsalm 91: Security in God’s protection
Are you feeling a little shaky right now with all the uncertainty of our culture pressing in on you from all sides? Covid-19 shut downs, positive tests, quarantines, isolation, masks, racial disparities and the ensuing unrest and violence, anger on social media, crazy weather and horrific fires, clashing political conventions, passions, and fears, tensions at home, at work, among friends…even while shopping, gassing up the car, or hanging at the park?
I have found some solace in all of this, a refuge from oppression and intimidation. It’s in the Bible—Psalm 91—and the entire chapter focuses on one thing: God is willing and ready to protect you—yes, YOU—in all kinds of danger.
I’ll let you in on a secret. I keep a pile of laminated Psalm 91 index cards handy so I can grab one and go. I have them in my car, my purse, I take them on trips, but mostly I carry one in my hand when I go for a walk. I have fresh Psalm 91s, used Psalm 91s, and raggedy Psalm 91s. I like the raggedy ones the best. They have a good feel to them.
Several years ago, maybe in 2015 or so, I sensed the Lord telling me to pray Psalm 91 a thousand times. When I shared this with someone, they said, “OK. Pray it three times a day and you can be finished in a year.”
That’s not how I approach things. When I try to race through Bible reading just to say I’ve done it, I honestly don’t retain much. I like to squeeze the juice out of what I’m reading; I like to interact with what I’m reading; and I like to tear into it.
It’s kind of like when I went to Grenada on a mission trip back in the ‘80s. Kim, a Canadian full-time missionary there, picked up the local way of eating chicken. She ate each piece with great gusto, but unlike me—who when once the meat was pretty well picked off the bone, I’d set it down and reach for a fresh one—she would gnaw and chew every last tidbit of meat and gristle off that bone. Then, without hesitation, she would crack that bone and go after the marrow! She’d worked that chicken bone until there was nothing left but splinters!
That’s how I’m happiest with my Bible time. If I go for reading large amounts, I know I’ll miss out on so much. I go for the meat, the morsels, the tidbits, the gristle, and then crack that Bible “bone” to go in after the marrow. I may not cover the whole Bible in a year, but I sure get as much out of what I do read as I can.
Anyway, I’m somewhere in the four-hundreds in praying this Psalm. As you can see, I don’t do this every day, and sometimes I forget to tally when I do pray it, but nonetheless, Psalm 91 has become a dear friend to me.
As I walk my neighborhood and pray this Psalm, I often like to emphasize one word at a time in a verse. For example, take the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” Here’s how my “emphasis method” would go:
- “JESUS wept.” I’d ponder the fact that JESUS HIMSELF did the weeping. I would think about how the Lord HIMSELF had such deep, human emotions, and because of that, He has no problem understanding my sorrow or anguish.
- “Jesus WEPT.” Now I would consider the fact that He actually WEPT. I’d think about salty tears falling down His face, and I’d be pulled into His moment, His feelings, His sorrow. I would find myself wanting to comfort Him.
As I walk and pray Psalm 91, I am frequently surprised by new ways of thinking about one verse or another. Of course, there are also times when I realize I haven’t listened to anything I’ve just prayed. When this happens, I simply start again where I first trailed off in my mind.
I’ve been sensing a leading by the Holy Spirit for a few months to start blogging about the amazing protective provisions God has revealed in this Psalm. I just need the boost to get started…and telling YOU I plan to do this should light the fire I need to get this meal cooking.
Please pray for me! I am asking for Holy Ghost get-up-and-go to grip and propel me so I can fulfill this task which I know He’s given me.
Thanks!
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
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