He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.
Psalm 91:4
So what are the feathers of God? And what is his wing?
Immediately I think of the red tail hawks that fly over the canyons by my house. They float so effortlessly on the updraft, hardly flapping at all. But raptor wings don’t quite seem to capture the mighty, global wing of God.
I imagine an owl’s wing, gorgeously layered, translucent in the sun, but again so small for the billions God watches over.
I imagine an owlet in the nest, sheltered under the wing the mother or father owl. That feels safe.
But then I imagine something greater, more omnipresent.
The sky and clouds overarching me, our atmosphere, protection from cold space, protection from the sun, the great blue dome, the wing of God for all.
And I imagine our Milky Way Galaxy, 100,000 light years across, its great spiral arms wrapped around our sun, enclosing our planet, hundreds of billions of stars wrapped around me and you and everyone, held in place by great swirling forces, and that just begins to hint at the vastness and power latent in the wing metaphor. Our Solar System is located in a region in between the two arms called the Orion-Cygnus arm. We are cradled safely there in the arms, in the wings made by God about 25,000 light-years from the galactic center and 25,000 light-years away from the rim.
We are always enveloped in God’s, perfectly designed bright, physical wings of beauty, love and wonder. We are, know it, sense it or intuit it or not. This does not mean we will not suffer, feel lonely or die. It does mean we will do so within a refuge of ultimate safety, redemptive safety. You are covered. Rest and peace hover overhead.
And when these present protective wings pass away, a new wing, a redeemed heaven and earth will cover us and there will be no harm and there will be no end to our safety.
Thrive! 