Last summer, I pulled into the parking lot where I take my morning walk and saw a rather large killdeer resting on the ground. When I saw it, I said to myself, “Now that is one fat killdeer!” When I got a little closer to the bird, it stood up and it wasn’t nearly as large as it first appeared. Then I realized why it looked so large. Two little killdeer chicks were underneath the bird. She was fluffing her feathers out to keep them under her wings. Those two chicks were probably no more than two inches tall at that time.
Two weeks later, as I entered that same parking lot for my morning walk, there sat that momma killdeer again, fluffed out as big as ever. She looked twice as large as she did two weeks earlier. I took a photo of her (much to her dismay!). The chicks had grown quite quickly. They stood four inches tall. That momma was really having to fluff her wings out to keep those chicks protected!
Maybe you’ve read Psalm 91 where it says, “He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge” (Psalm 91:4). Well, that’s a word picture for what this momma killdeer was doing. Jesus uses the same word picture when He cries over Jerusalem in Luke 13:34, “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, AND YOU WERE NOT WILLING.” The Lord wants to cover His children “under His wings.” There is protection there. What safer place could there be than under the wings of the Almighty God? Yet, there are those who prefer to trust the protection of man more than God’s protection. Jesus grieved over Jerusalem because of this fact. He was weeping when He said, “YOU WERE NOT WILLING.”
So, I give you this food for thought today: ARE YOU WILLING? Will you put your trust in the Almighty God who wants to cover you with His wings of protection? Or, do you prefer to trust this world’s methods of protection? The answer you give is very important. You see, if you put your trust in this world’s protection, you are effectively removing yourself from underneath the wings of the Almighty. Jesus said, “You cannot serve two masters.” I’ll say it this way: “You can’t be under the wings of the world and under the wings of the Almighty at the same time.”
My Confession for Today:
“Lord I trust YOU. I want to abide under YOUR SHADOW. I want to stay protected underneath YOUR WINGS. This world is trying its best to intimidate me and coerce me into alignment with it. It suggests that faith in You is not enough … that Your protection is limited and outdated. But I trust in YOU! I will stand on Your promises in Your Word. I will continue to abide here under Your Wings … the ultimate place of protection and safety. LORD, I TRUST YOU!”
