The Rock-Solid Shadow by: Cindy Browning

 

I have a bird. Her name is Shirley, as in, “Shirley, goodness and mercy shall

Shirley

follow me all the days of my life.” She is fairly large, and black, and Kent and I glued her feet down on the top of the column under our front porch. Okay, she is made of resin, but I like to pretend she is real. I always like to see if guests notice her. She is an attention-getter. 

This spring, a wonderful thing happened to her. Two very small birds, House Finches, built their house right under her. They tediously flew back and forth with little bits and pieces of twigs to weave the sweetest little nest right in her shadow. I don’t know why they chose that spot. Perhaps they knew that Shirley would provide protection for their nest and for the eggs they soon would lay.

I looked forward to the day when I would see little baby bird heads sticking up out of that nest. In due time, sure enough, babies were born.

 One of the grandest sights was seeing Mama and Daddy Finch feeding the babies. Daddy stood right on top of Shirley, supervising as Mama dropped the tiniest bits of insects into those stretching and squawking mouths. Aren’t birds smart?

Watching Shirley and the finches reminded me of the beautiful promises given to us in the Book of Psalms.

Psalm 91:4

Like a bird protecting its young, God will cover you with his feathers; He
    will protect you under His great wings.

    His faithfulness will form a shield around you, a rock-solid wall to protect you.

 

Psalm 36:7

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!

And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

Needless to say, I have never seen God, but I don’t think that He is covered in feathers or has wings. I believe that the writer of this psalm is using familiar imagery for us to better understand God’s Holy Faithfulness.

Recently, Christie Hale (one of our Northside women) shared an incident that happened in her backyard. She and her family have some hens. A snake got under one of the hens as she was sitting on her eggs. She never moved. All that mattered to her was protecting what belonged to her.

When evil slithers about to devour us, surely goodness and mercy will surround us. We are not promised that evil will not show up. We are not promised that bad things are not going to happen to us. But those who belong to God are promised that He will shield us with His faithfulness. Why? To protect us. We may not know it or feel it. After all, those chicks inside the shells had no idea a snake was nearby. Mama did. God knows what threatens us too. Trust the covering of His impenetrable Shadow. It is rock-solid!