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The Shadow of Your Wings

             How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36:7) 

Some people speak of verses like this one as showing the feminine side of God, or God, the Mother. That image may exist, but it isn’t necessary to this verse. One of the neat things about technology is the chance to watch eagles, hawks, and owls raise their young. And at least in the Bald Eagle’s nest, the male helps build the next, broods over, protects, and feeds the young, too. Also interesting is the information shared that hummingbirds sometimes build their nests near hawks’ nests (Hummingbirds) because the hummingbird and its nest is kept safe from predators by the presence of the hawk, which generally sees the hummingbird as too small to use to feed its young.

I’m not saying that God does not do things that we think of as feminine. I’m just saying that this verse isn’t a good proof-text that can be used to impose feminism on Scripture or God.

So what are we to make of this? One interesting note  is that the psalmist does not say “Your people.” People, in general, take refuge in the shadow of God’s “wings.” One of the things that atheists complain about is the supposed claim that because they are atheists, they are immoral or amoral, which means that they are evil. They naturally object to this. But when you ask them the basis for their moral code, or if they list examples of their moral code, chances are good that much of their code will correspond to the teachings of Scripture.

They may object to this, saying that other cultures have developed codes,  or that their code is somehow self-evident or self-chosen, but all they’re just demonstrating the first chapter of Romans. It is within this commonly understood (but not necessarily commonly applied) sense that people turn to for protection.

Equally, there is common grace. God uses nature to provide for our needs, whether we are His people, or just people. He gives some wisdom, knowledge, and talent. All of these things protect and shelter us, as His wings.

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