Under the Shadow of Your Wings
- Ashley Brown
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
There are seasons in life when storms seem relentless and sunny days feel uncertain or fleeting. Sometimes fear and uncertainty feel relentless, loss feels permanent, and disappointments become overwhelming.
Realizing that life comes in seasons changed my perspective in a profound way. It reminded me that difficult moments are just that, moments. They are not forever.
It helped me embrace the truth that "this too shall pass."
Maybe I will show my age in saying this, but when I was a young lady, everything felt so severe. Consequences seemed final, like there was no going back or recovering from any situation that was unsatisfactory. I was driven by fear; I hated to be wrong, to disappoint those around me. I was emotionally immature, and when I grasped that about myself, I carried shame around like a purse, often pulling out sharp words like knives. I fell victim to victimhood, not knowing how to correct that way of thinking.
Many times, in my life, I have opted to run away from problems and hide. I often looked for an exit from life's difficult situations, moving too quickly to learn what God might have been trying to teach me through them. I know the urgency to find solid ground quickly, all too well.
I recognize that the word shadow often carries a negative connotation. We may think of obscurity, fear, or living unnoticed behind someone or something else. Yet Scripture presents a very different picture.
David and God’s Protection
Through the Psalms, David repeatedly points us to God as a refuge.
I yearn to be in God’s shadow, in the presence and the protection of his wings. When I read Psalms 36:7, God’s shadow is not a place of fear but a place of safety. I can trust it, and it’s peaceful. This scripture presents a beautifully poetic picture of God’s heart posture towards me.
As insignificant as I sometimes convince myself I am, I am someone whom God is aware of, thinks about, and cares for. He moves in my life, and wherever He leads me, I remain under the shelter of His protection.
In God's shadow, we are not hidden from Him but are covered in His presence. His shadow is a place of security, love, and protection where our weary hearts can rest, knowing that the One who created the heavens and earth watches over us with unfailing care.
Proximity of The Shadow
Can you abide in the shadow of someone standing far away?
God's protection, peace, and presence flow from who He is. He is what scripture says that He is, His word is alive and evidence of His character.
When you read David’s story in First and Second Samuel, First and Second Chronicles, and firsthand his psalms in the book of Psalms, as well as pieces through other books in the Bible, we find that David was often on the run from someone.
David often lived in the shadows of caves and wilderness strongholds, but spiritually, he learned that his true refuge was found beneath the shadow of God's wings. David refused to act out of fear or insecurity. Instead, he sought God's will, even when his circumstances were uncertain. Anointed to be King, taking refuge in the wilderness of life and land, waiting on the perfect timing of our God.
When faced with uncertainty, David continually sought the Lord in prayer.
Staying on the outskirts of faith and obedience would have been disastrous for David. He lived his life in need of God and with the authority that God gave. David faced Giants, Kings, enemies, and armies. He dealt with fear, discouragement, and loss.
What fascinates me is that David repeatedly describes God as his refuge, fortress, and shield, someone that he ran to and toward. God is the One who covers him with His wings.
David's life serves as a testimony that no matter what ensues, a giant, a storm, an enemy, or even our own failures, the safest place we can be is in the shadow of God's protection. We can find God on our knees in prayer and in the secret places of our heart and mind.
Trust in the Shadow
Dear God, I cannot and do not want to do this on my own. I trust you with my entire life!
Do you trust God enough to surrender your insecurities, doubts, and need for control?
We learn that trust is letting go and letting God. Taking refuge requires a surrender. Lying not only our thoughts at His feet but giving ourselves over fully to His control. We step into that shadow of protection and peace when we step beneath His wings and admit that we cannot control everything.
Let us reject our pride, because faith often looks like choosing God's shelter over self-reliance.
Rest in the Shadow
Dear God, I want to lay myself at Your feet. Here I am, I am Yours!
When we trust God under the shadows of His presence, we learn that we stop carrying burdens that we were never meant to bear.
The Shadow of God offers peace of mind, even when difficult circumstances endure and remain uncertain for a time. Voices that are not from God often challenge our peace and attempt to pull us away from His promises. Instead of being consumed by emptiness, sorrow, and doubt, we can find comfort, healing, and relief.
Love in the Shadow
Dear God, I love because you first loved me. I am enamored with your unfailing love for me. Teach me to love like you, for you are love and I am loved!
Psalms 36:7 begins by recognizing God’s “precious, steadfast love”.
Though God is an omnipresent and omnipotent powerhouse, His protection flows from the Love of a Father. God protects us out of His affection towards each of us who is made in His image. We know and recognize love, as scripture says, because He first loved us.
I know I am made in that image, the image of His love, and the words that declare it true.
Abide in the Shadow
Dear God, teach me to abide in you as you abide in me.
There will always be seasons of life that sometimes present bright and sunny, but sometimes dark and cold. We do not trust and lean on God because He promises a life free of hardship; we trust Him because He promises that we will never face life alone.
Like the blood above the doorposts for the Hebrew people in the Old Testament, we are covered and marked as God’s possession as children, family of God. Trouble looms in our world, but we belong to God, and He will protect us.
Jesus, the very Word of God, talked about following Him being a sacrifice of self, taking up our cross daily, and making the choice every day to trust and follow Him.
His invitation is simple: draw near. Rest beneath His wings. Trust and abide in the shadow of His presence. There, we discover that true security is not found in our circumstances but in the One who shelters us with His unfailing love.
Jesus told His followers they would face trouble, persecution, and the challenge of taking up their cross. Neither David nor Jesus promised an easy path. Yet both point to the same truth: difficulty is inevitable, but God's presence is sufficient. The shadow of His wings does not remove every storm; it provides shelter in the middle of it.
Perhaps the greatest lesson of Psalm 36:7 is this: the safest place in the world is not where there are no storms, but where God's wings are spread over us. His protection does not remove every storm; it shelters us through them.