“Like a bird protecting its young,
God will cover you with His feathers,
will protect you under His great wings;
His faithfulness will form a shield around you,
a rock-solid wall to protect you.”
Psalm 91:4 VOICE
God often uses birds as an analogy of His loving care and protection over us. When an April snowstorm hit us, I watched a visible sign of this truth. A house finch pair already had a nest outside my office window. It was amazing to see how they kept the eggs warm and did not leave them to find shelter for themselves. The eggs did hatch and the parents faithfully fed, cared for, and protected them. If the little ones needed more warmth or were afraid, they snuggled more deeply under the wings of their mother.
Birds will sacrifice their own lives to keep their young ones safe. I once heard a story of a mother bird whose blackened and dead body was found by rangers after a forest fire. One of them bumped her body with a stick and out popped three little chicks alive and well. She could have flown to safety, but she remained to protect her beloved young and give her life for theirs.
Though a bird will give its life for its young, there are times when it has no power against much stronger enemies. That will never happen with God. He is invincible. There is no enemy too strong for Him. We can always find refuge under His Almighty wings of safety in the storms of life.
And there will be storms, because we are part of this sinful, fallen world. As long as we are on this earth, physical, mental, and emotional losses in various forms will continue to cause heart-rending grief, anxiety, and fear.
We all need a Shelter, a Refuge, a Safe Savior in these storms.
Jesus mourns when we don’t choose to find refuge underneath His loving, shielding wings. When Jerusalem rejected Jesus and His love, He wept (Luke 19:41). He voiced His sorrow in Luke 13:34b:
“How often I have longed to
gather your children together,
as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings,
and you were not willing.”
Jesus longs for us to find refuge under His wings of love and safety. He longs for us to believe He willingly gave His life for us to rescue us from sin, eternal death, and Satan. He longs for us to take it to heart that He loves us so much that He suffered an excruciating death for us to keep us safe.
Yes, it’s hard to trust there is safety under His wings if our trust has been horribly betrayed or if we are so confused about what love really is. It took me many years to believe I can trust Him. To believe His intentions toward us are always honorable and life-giving, not hurtful and life-taking.
Even if we hesitate to take shelter beneath His loving wings, He never stops loving us or caring about us. His wings are always open, entreating us to find refuge in Him. His patience knows no end!
Lord, thank You for loving us so much and longing for us to take shelter in You. Please help us to trust You with all our hearts. Take away all the roadblocks that keep us from fleeing to find refuge in You. Take away all the trust issues we may have in our hearts. Take away all our self-sufficiency. Please help us to snuggle underneath Your wings of loving care with all our restlessness, anxiety, and fear. Help us to picture Your protective wings around us whenever we step forward into places or situations that make us feel so afraid and untrusting but yet will help us on the road to healing the brokenness within us. Help us to be dependent on You and Your all-sufficient grace in whatever struggles we go through in this life. Thank You that Your wings of love and safety are invincible.
Your Wings
by Lauren Daigle
Freed to Fly 
Yes, yes, Trudy. Jesus is where we find our rest, our safety in the midst of the storm, our hope for the next minute and the days ahead.
No other one can love and protect and minister to us like Him. I’m so grateful …
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Yes, He is our “hope for the next minute and the days ahead,” Linda. I’m so grateful for how faithfully He loves, protects, and ministers to us, too. May we keep finding our rest and safety in Him!
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Trudy, I love this! I shared it with the women in our Bible Study. We were just talking about this last week. What a blessing to find it here. I hope you have a wonderful day! Hugs to you! Michelle
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Thank you, Michelle, for your kind words and for sharing the comfort of His loving wings of refuge with others. That must have been an encouraging Bible study. Hugs to you, too! May we snuggle beneath His wings with all our pain and be comforted with His sufficient grace!
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Knowing God protects us as we gather beneath His wings of love gives me such great comfort. I love the imagery you’ve used here, Trudy, to illustrate so beautifully God’s immeasurable grace and kindness.
Blessings to you!
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Thank you, Martha. It truly is a comfort to me, too, that He has such “immeasurable grace and kindness” towards us. Blessings to you, too! May we keep gathering beneath His wings of love!
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Wow, Trudy … this is so powerful. To think that Jesus doesn’t simply want us to seek shelter with Him, He longs for us to do so. Amazing! Love and hugs, my friend.
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Thank you, Lois. That struck me, too, that Jesus actually longs for us to find shelter beneath His wings. Yes, it truly is amazing. Love and hugs to you, too! May His longing for us keep drawing us to find refuge and comfort beneath His wings of love and safety!
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“His wings are always open, entreating us to find refuge in Him. His patience knows no end!” Open wings. I’ve never thought about it in just that way. Thanks, Trudy! I love watching birds that fly in and out of my backyard. Now I have something new to think about when I see them.
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I’m so glad the truth of His always-open wings encouraged you, Lisa. It’s amazing how loving and patient He is, isn’t it? May we both think about it as we watch the birds!
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Psalm 91 is one of my favourites, and I love that image of us finding refuge under his wings. I love that his wings are always open, waiting for us, even in those times when we try to struggle on by ourselves., that he still longs to draw us to him!
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Yes, even in those times when we try to struggle on by ourselves, Lesley. It’s amazing how He still longs for us in those times, isn’t it? He is so patient with our self-sufficient actions. May He remove all our self-sufficiency and help us to depend fully on Him!
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Trudy, wow this post is meaningful on so many levels. I never thought about all the references to birds in the Bible before. I loved your pictures of birds . . . especially the hen with all the little legs beneath her. 🙂
It’s kind of amazing to me that the Lord longs to be our shelter, even when we don’t always turn to Him right away.
“Even if we hesitate to take shelter beneath His loving wings, He never stops loving us or caring about us.”
I needed your words today. Thank you for sharing them.
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I’m so grateful you found meaning in God’s faithful love and care at a time you needed it, Jeanne. Yes, it truly is amazing how He longs for us to take shelter beneath His loving wings even when we don’t always turn to Him right away. He is so patient with us, isn’t He? May we flee to Him and find rest in His unconditional love!
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Dear Trudy, as you know I too share such a love of birds. And I have always been so touched by the way that the Lord spoke about calling us to shelter under His wings. Your words came yesterday just when I needed to be reminded of that, during a hard pain flare. Thank you so much for your comfort and encouragement. Love and hugs to you dear friend! xoxo
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I’m so grateful you were comforted and encouraged at a time when you needed it, Bettie. I’m so sorry you have those pain flares. 😦 Love and hugs to you, too! And blessings of Jesus cuddling you with His wings of love! May all our trials draw us to the love and safety He longs to give us beneath His wings!
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That swan picture is absolutely lovely. I tend to fall into self-sufficiency, and can leave the nest too early, or maybe not leave when being called to fly! May you keep blessing many with your words of hope Trudy (and share His beauty).
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I often become too self-sufficient, too, Lynn. Thank you for your kind words. May we learn to surrender our control and depend on Him who longs for us to need Him!
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[…] Jesus Longs For Us to Find Refuge Under His Wings of Love Blog Post Excerpt and Prayer from 2019 […]
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The word tells us that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. What more can we ask for? The birds in that nest would not have survived if they failed to stay under the safe wings of their parents. May we willingly stay put and let God protect us.
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So true, Calvonia. “May we willingly stay put and let God protect us.” Praying with you!
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