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Under His Wings

             He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. (Isaiah 91:4)

Near San Bernardino, CA, there are cameras trained on an eagle’s nest, and the feed has proven to be quite popular. This year, Jackie and Shadow lost a pair of eggs, and laid a second pair. Jackie spent a lot of time brooding the eggs. Even after the eaglets hatched, she stayed with them, keeping them warmly tucked against her downy breast during snowstorms, dry during rainstorms, nearly getting blown off the next in a windstorm, but always covering the eaglets. Even once they were big enough to not need quite so much protection, Jackie stayed nearby. Sometimes, a squirrel would come up to the nest, and Jackie would spread her wings and slap down, covering the eaglets and frightening the squirrel away.  When crows, owls, or other flying predators came along, Jackie or Shadow would stay with the eaglets, protecting them from attack while the other flew in defense of the nest.

When you think of God covering you with His wings, sometimes, it’s tempting to think in terms of sparrows or robins. They may do some of the same things Jackie did, but they’re small. It’s much more impressive to watch the fierceness and care of a bird of prey. I’m not quite as faithful a watcher as some, but watching highlights has changed my perspective of what it means to be beneath God’s wings.

It’s not a passive thing. Like Jackie, He doesn’t settle down over His own and doomscroll. He protects us from the spiritual elements we couldn’t survive on our own. He slaps his wings down over us when things that aren’t good for us come along, even if they aren’t immediately dangerous.  And like Jackie’s eaglets, sometimes we get bored or frustrated by the constraints that are part of His protection of us, so God protects us from ourselves.

Once we’re “old enough” in our own minds, we think we can handle things. We may not spend as much time literally beneath His wings. Not too long ago, one eaglet fell out of the nest, and Jackie and Shadow stayed nearby, so that the eaglet was still under their watchful eyes. Had the eaglet needed it, they would have swooped in and placed themselves between the eaglet and the danger. It’s not quite “under” their wings, but the effect is the same. Even when we think we’re lost or that God has left us on our own, He is watchful and ready.  

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