The Shelter of His Wings

“God, hear my cry; pay attention to my prayer. I call to You from the ends of the earth when my heart is without strength. Lead me to a rock that is high above me, for You have been a refuge for me, a strong tower in the face of the enemy. I will live in Your tent forever and take refuge under the shelter of Your wings.” (Psalm 61:1-4 CSB)

We all experience times when it feels as though our hearts have little strength and we are at the ends of the earth. At times, having the will to carry on is a struggle in itself. Those are the times we cry out to God and seek Him, and we do that because we have done it before and because God has responded. He has been a refuge for us and a strong tower of protection when it has seemed that we had no strength left.

David certainly experienced this feeling many times over, as expressed in this psalm, and he says that he will live in God’s tent forever and take shelter under the shelter of God’s wings. God’s “tent” is a reference to the tabernacle of God, which represented the presence of God with Israel, the place where people could go and worship God. The reference to God’s “wings” is not a reference to literal wings, however, but to the mercy seat of God. The ark of God was a wooden box that had a solid gold cover called the “mercy seat.” On either end of the mercy seat were cherubim, which were child-like looking angelic beings hammered out of solid gold, whose wings were spread out over the mercy seat. The presence of God hovered over the mercy seat between the wings. So, when David is talking about taking refuge under the shelter of God’s wings, he is talking about coming before God in the Holy of Holies place within the tabernacle, to be as close to the presence of God as someone could possibly get at that time.

When days come that challenge your very will to continue, the thing to do is to seek God and be as close to Him as you possibly can be. Since His Holy Spirit dwells in your heart as a believer, you need only turn to Him with a humble heart, and He will give you the strength you need.

Lord, What great joy and peace there is in knowing that Your Spirit dwells within our hearts, so that we can seek You any time we need to and can known that You are with us wherever we are and wherever we go. Strengthen us this day so we may serve you well. Amen.