Under His Wings

          Words certainly mean different things to different people.  It is like the saying, "One man's junk is another man's treasure."  In the same sense, one man's worry is another man's calamity.  We all view things differently.  In light of that, many are going through calamities of varying degrees even today. If you are prepared for the calamity when it comes, it doesn't bother you as much. My Father had built us a new home in Northern Indiana and we lived in the basement of that home for six years. We could look out of the basement windows and see tornadoes in the distance, but they didn't do us any harm because of where we were. Floods would have been a different matter, but fortunately, we had none of those to be concerned about in our area.  When you are going through a calamity, where do you turn?  The Psalmist has given us some good advice in the following verse.    Psalm 57:1 says,  "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast."  

         David was fleeing from Saul during this time in his life but he found protection under the “wings” of God. The picture here is that of the protective bird, such as even a mother hen who protects her chicks under the cover of her wings.  With God, we can find the same type of protection and the same type of refuge. The same picture can be seen in Psalm 91 where we find protection under the wings of God.  What is necessary for us is to turn to God when trouble comes and to not run in the opposite direction.  It does come upon us in varying forms and when it does, we need to remember just where our comfort  and refuge is.  When a storm would come up in the barnyard, the mother hen would just make some frantic clucking noises and the little chicks would come scurrying as fast as they could to crawl under her outstretched wings.  They had to make sure that they had not wandered too far from the mother hen.  They needed to be able to hear the warning and to get to the place of refuge.  The same is true of us.  We always need to be close enough to God that we are able to flee to His presence in the time of trouble.  Sometimes, however, we get to wander too far away. Our attitudes become complacent as things seem to have been going well and we have forgotten how God worked in our lives in the past.  We soon begin to lose contact with God, not because of anything He has done, but because we have wandered away.   So, make sure that you maintain a good line of communication with God through Scripture and prayer.  Remember that He is your place of refuge in a time of trouble. He protected you yesterday and He will protect you today. Praise God today for His protection in every calamity whether they be big or small.