God's Protection

God's Protection

September 5, 2016

Psalm 91:4  "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge. . ."

The Lord is mighty and powerful, able to fight off any and every enemy.  And He is more than willing to fight off those enemies for His children.  Notice I said for His children, though.  He doesn't offer His protection to just anyone; He offers it to His children.  This would suggest you must first be His child.  If you are reading this, then there is little doubt you know about the Lord's existence and there is little doubt you are aware of how big and powerful He can be in your life.  Again, you must be His child if you want His protection, though.  There is more though, than just being His child.  The Bible is very clear you have to reside and abide in His house and living your life as His child.  This does not mean you must be within the four walls of the church at all times, but abiding in His will for your life, His path, following His recommended boundaries, and not walking in the way of sin.

Scripture says He will cover you with His wings and He will be like a shield for you, protecting you from the enemy.  The imagery is of a large bird with its offspring seeking refuge under its wings.  While a bird's feathers don't seem like a formidable refuge you must understand the full imagery of the metaphor by reading the verse of Scripture right before it.  The Bible says He will protect you from the fowler's snare.  A fowler is a professional bird hunter, who sets traps, specific to each bird he wishes to capture/kill.  If a bird is away from the nest, away from the covering of the wings, the bird is at risk of falling victim to one of these traps.  The enemy of your life has set traps for you.  They are in place right now as you read this.  The traps have your name on them, intended for you alone by the fowler.  The Lord is more than willing and able to keep you from these traps, but you have to do something first.  You must seek refuge under His wings, the Lord's wings, abiding in His house.  A bird is more than capable of leaving the parent's protection and only gets the benefit of the protection if it is under those wings.  Leave the nest, subject yourself to the deadly snare of the fowler.

The verse right before the description of the the winged covering also talks about protection from pestilence.  A smaller bird is at risk of being plucked out of the nest by anything larger than itself in the food chain.  A small bird is unable to defend itself.  Left without a covering of protection, the small bird is at risk of being carried off with the intention of being dinner.  But under the protection of the wings, the small bird gets the benefit of the parent's fighting skills.  Try to pluck a small bird out of the nest while being covered and you must first get through the covering.  The protector is not willing to lose anyone under its wings and will fight to the death anything that comes against it.  The Lord is this covering for you, but again, you must seek shelter under those wings, abiding in His house.  Like a bird that is able to leave the protection, it subjects itself to the terrors of whatever is hunting it.  Specifically, it is nice to sleep well with a covering.  There are large birds of prey that hunt in the darkness of night.  If it sees a small bird without a covering it will swoop it.  You want that covering in order to find that rest.

If you read the very first verse of this entire passage of Scripture, the Bible says, "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will have rest....."  This is the verse before protecting you from the fowler, before protecting you from something wanting to pluck you away at night.  It says you MUST dwell in the shelter of the Most High in order to receive the intended benefits.  It doesn't say you should just say a simple prayer or go to church once a week, or even tithe in order to get protection.  It says you must dwell there, have a lifestyle of following the Lord every moment of the day.  He is more than willing to give you protection, but you must live, at all times, as His child, staying in His will and on His path for your life, staying away from sin.  His protection is there; all you have to do is enter into it.

Don't take my word for it; look it up:  Ps 9, Ps 91, Is 55:6, Ja 4:8