Under the shelter of His Wings

"Those who live in the shelter of the Most High

will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty...

He will shield you with his wings,

He will shelter you with His feathers.

His faithful promises are your armor and protection."

Ps. 91:1,4

I do so love the way the LORD gives us pictures that can help us to understand His ways through nature and in simple sights around us. I looked at the little ducklings and imagine how safe and protected they must feel, hidden in their father's wings. His waterproof feathers keeping them safe and dry in the storms they face. The picture is not only one that speaks of safety and protection, it speaks of great intimacy and love of the parent for their offspring. It reminds me that our God is not far away or indifferent, but desires to draw us close and keep us nestled in the safety of His presence.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem, stating that He longed to gather them as a mother chicken would gather her young under her wings, but they were not willing. I was watching a nature program one day and a father bird and his newly hatched chicks were spread out along the edge of a lake. The father saw a hawk coming and made a piercing call to his young. The babies did not see the danger but immediately responded to the father bird's call. He spread his wings and the babies hid in safety until the danger had passed by. I've always remembered that scene and pray for the sensitivity to His Spirit that I will hear His voice and respond to His call to hide under His wings.

"Keep me as the apple of your eye,

Hide me under the shadow of your wings."

Ps. 17:8

A God of Wonders

"But as for me, I would seek God,

And I would place my cause before God;

Who does great and unsearchable things,

Wonders without number.

He gives rain on the earth,

And sends water on the fields.

Job 5:8-10

In his book, "Taste and See: Savoring the Supremacy of God in all of Life," John Piper drew my attention to something I had missed in my previous readings of this verse in Job. Eliphaz, the writer of this passage, lifts up God, describing Him as one who does great and unsearchable things..."wonders without number." Do you consider it odd that his first example is something that we all not only all experience often, but also frequently complain about? ... rain? Did you ever think of rain as a great and unsearchable wonder? I try to be grateful for the rain, having lived through times of drought, and come to realize it as a gift of God, but I never thought of rain as "a wonder." John Piper shared some facts about rain that have totally changed my understanding of this "wonder" of the LORD's creation. For Job and his friends to have experienced this wonder, water would have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea several hundred miles away and then poured out on fields from the sky. How does this happen? It would not just be for the uneducated mind to wonder at this phenomena. The more one knows about the process, the more amazing it truly is! John Piper says, "...if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 2,323,200 cubic feet of water, which is 17,377,536 gallons, which is 144,735,360 pounds of water." That is just the amount of water on one square mile!! I learned about evaporation and condensation in school, but I never really think about how incredible this process truly is. How does it work? John Piper described the process, "water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide...the salt is taken out. So the sky picks up millions of pounds of water from the sea, takes out the salt, carries the water for three hundred miles, and then dumps it (now turned into water) on the farm. If it just dumped millions of pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the millions of pounds of water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so from the sky without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks." It does this through coalescence, which means that "specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger, and when they are big enough, they fall." It really is one of God's wonders, isn't it? Our God truly does all things well!!