May it please the Lord to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn
to the book of Psalms, and we'll read the 7th verse of Psalm 36. Psalm 36, and we'll read verse
7. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings the subject really on my heart
tonight is under the shadow of thy wings and we read together
those four psalms 1736 57 and 63 and in each of those Psalms
there is a reference to the shadow of thy wings. It's an expression
which David uses. He wrote all those Psalms and
very clearly he understood the need there was to be under the
shadow of thy wings and of course He is referring to none other
than the Lord God Himself. But each of those references
in those four Psalms, they each have a slightly different view. And the first one in Psalm 17
refers to this shadow of thy wings being a place of hiding,
a hiding place. The 36th psalm gives us a position
of trust, trusting under the shadow of thy wings. And the 57th psalm is a refuge
under the shadow of thy wings. And finally, the 63rd psalm speaks
about rejoicing under the shadow of thy wings. follow those three
or four points through, we will see there that David realised
the wonderful blessing, the wonderful security, the wonderful comfort
there was of being under the shadow of thy wings. And of course we have an illustration
of that in the New Testament when the Lord speaks about a
chicken with the chicks being under the mother's wings. Well,
we can visualize that picture, can't we? It's a very vivid picture.
We've probably seen it ourselves. And there was security. The little
chicks feel secure under the wings of their mother. When there's
any opposition or when the enemy is trying to get hold of them
or to attack them, they feel safety there. And surely, This
is so gloriously true with regard to the Church of God. There is
wonderful safety under the wings of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The comfort is to know that we
have a God, a kind and gracious God who does look upon us and
is gracious to and mindful of us. So just reverting to the
17th Psalm and the Eighth verse speaks to us about this. Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. Well, the apple of the eye, of
course, is the central piece, a very important part that needs
to be kept very carefully and very safely. And David here in
his prayer, and he's so wonderful, isn't he? Many of the prayers
of David are recorded in the Word of God to encourage us today
in the things that he faced, and the opposition he faced,
the reality of the things he had to contend with. And so he
says here, keep me as the apple of thy eye, hide me under the
shadow of thy wings. It's a blessing to know that
we have the Lord God, who does indeed, who is a hiding place
for his people. To know that the Lord Jesus Christ
is that true hiding place for us, under an illustration like
this, hide me under the shadow of thy wings, to feel that we
are safe, and it may be that we have to face in a much opposition
from the enemy of our souls my friends I'm sure the devil is
always active he is always keen to to attack us from one side
or another and you see he is very aware of what our various
weaknesses are and what your weaknesses might not be mine
and what mine is might not be yours but the devil knows very
well what our weaknesses are and be sure of this he would
attack us if he can. So as we think of the devil hovering
around, trying to attack us, throwing his darts at us, trying
to wound us, trying to cut us down, trying to maim us if he
can, trying to stop us in our race, trying to hinder us, so
that we are not able to continue to think then that this illustration
we have here, hide me, under the shadow of thy wings. Yes, again reverting to the illustration
of the chicken, you see. They're really secure, the little
chicks under that mother's wing. The mother's wing covers them
completely. And there is, therefore, that
area which the wing shadows. It gives a shadow. And if they're
under, in that shadowed area, then they are relatively safe. And what a blessing for us today
if we are under the shadow of the Almighty, the Great God,
condescending to be gracious to us, condescending to keep
us as the apple of the eye and to hide us under the shadow of
thy wings. To know then Christ as a hiding
place in the storms of life. There are storms in our life,
aren't there? Often the illustration is like
a ship on the sea facing the storms and the winds and the
waves and threaten to sink the ship, threaten to come into the
ship with the waves and cause shipwreck. Sometimes we may be
fearful that we may make shipwreck, shipwreck of faith. We may sometimes
fear the power of Satan. He's a frightful foe, my friends.
Never underestimate the power of the evil one. Never think
that you can match his strength. Never think you can match his
skill. We're no match to the devil. And when we come to that
realization, our inability of ourselves, it is then that we'll
need to realize the wonderful blessing of this, to be hid. Hid from him. as it were, hidden
from his view. So he's not able to attack us. He's not able to overcome us. But then we're found then trusting
in our God. Keep me as the apple of the eye,
hide me under the shadow of thy wings. And you see, he goes on
to express the reason of it. From the wicked that oppress
me, from the deadly enemies who compass me about, David was aware
of those who were seeking after his natural body. The devil was
seeking after his soul. My friends, the devil may be
seeking after your body and mine, he's definitely seeking after
our soul. And he's a deadly enemy who encompasses us about. The
Word of God tells us he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour. or sometimes as an angel of light.
He uses whatever guise is suitable to Him. He uses whatever guise
He thinks He can overcome us with. And we may feel Him, as
it were, prowling around sometimes. Oh, then how we need the Lord
then to come, so we're able to hide under the shadow of His
wings. Now, if we're hiding under the
shadow of the wings of the Almighty, what does it mean? It means we're
close to our God. Close to our God. We're not a
long way away, where there's no safety. We're close to our
God. And that's a good thing. We're
not close to the Lord, my friends. You know what it is to have a
soft heart? You know what it is to be listening
for His voice? You know what it is to walk closely
by His side? Not so much room then you see
for the devil. But if we wander like Peter did,
far off, yes then we are not close and we are not under the
shadow of the wings of the Almighty, then you see that the devil comes.
And Peter was, he knew what the truth was, but you see he was
left to himself, he wasn't under that shadow. and therefore the
devil came in like a flood and poor old Peter was no match for
him he thought he was he thought he was strong in himself yet
to prove his utter weakness and it's just the case with us today
we'd be no stronger than Peter we may feel we would be strong
but left to ourselves we shall need to be hid under the shadow
of the wings for the Lord himself. Remember then that infers his
great blessing of being close to God, close to the Lord, to
walk by his side. What a favour position that is,
and not to therefore be left to wander away. That's why he
asked this, David asked this. He says, keep me, keep me. We need to be kept, don't we?
Keep me, he said. as after the eye hide me under
the shadow of my wings to be kept close so we are hidden from
the evil one and to be kept by the power of God is a wonderful
blessing and it's the Spirit's work and it's the goodness of
God toward us if we're kept now God's people need the keeping
power God's people need therefore to be hid under the shadow of
the wings of the Almighty. And so we see David in that prayer
then speak so beautifully along those lines. And then we move
on to this 36th Psalm and he says, How excellent is thy loving
kindness, O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. We observe, do we not hear, a
very good reason for trusting in the Lord. We need a reason,
don't we, naturally. We need a reason spiritually.
We need a reason to trust in the Lord. Why should we trust
in the Lord? We'll only trust in the Lord if we know the Lord. And if we know who the Lord is,
And if we know something of his kindness and goodness, and the
psalmist David says here, how excellent is thy loving kindness,
O God. And that's the reason he states
here, therefore the children of men put their trust under
the shadow of thy wings. Well, he states it well, doesn't
he? How excellent is thy loving kindness,
O God. I believe it's one of those blessings
that the Lord confers upon his people, that we know something
of his loving kindness toward us. It's a very beautiful word,
isn't it? Loving kindness. It really encompasses
love and kindness together. And to think that God loves us,
And I think that God is kind towards us. And I'm sure if we
know anything of God's mercy towards us, we will have to confess,
yes, and it's God's loving kindness towards me, that He hasn't dealt
with me as my sins deserve. He hasn't cut me off as a cumber
of the ground, someone who's worth nothing. It's because of
His loving kindness. towards me. Oh how excellent
is thy loving-kindness, O God. Well tonight I wonder if we can
come in and consider these words and consider if they're appropriate
in our lives, in our soul, that we know something of the loving-kindness
of the Lord toward us. I'm sure if the Spirit of God
has worked in our heart we will have some evidence of it, some
token of it. And perhaps that might be on
many occasions, as we see what we deserve. And the Lord shows
us our sins, our vile sins, our evil sins, and yet the Lord doesn't
cut us off. He doesn't cut us off because
of His loving-kindness. Indeed, Himmler says, Thy loving-kindness,
O how great! Is it not true? It is true. And so, may we not be able to
come in and confirm such a statement as this, yes? How excellent is
Thy loving-kindness, O God! It is, it has been toward me,
loving kindness. God's love and His kindness. You see, the Lord could deal
with us very harshly, couldn't he? We deserve to be dealt with
very harshly for our sins, for our backwardness, for our backstabbing,
for our waywardness. We deserve to be dealt with very
harshly. But we see how kind the Lord
is toward his people. He doesn't deal with us as our
sins deserve. It's because of his loving kindness.
He comes alongside us and he corrects us. We need to be corrected
sometimes. We need to be shown perhaps a
wrongness of our spirit. The wrong desires we've had.
The wrong aims we may have had in our life. The wrong motives
we may have had. We may have thought they were
all very good and right and God honouring. And God's shown us
with his loving kindness toward us. He's come alongside and as
it were gently put his hand upon us. And just reminded us of our
true situation. Shown us where we've got to.
Our own spirit. And yet the Lord now shows us
His love and His kindness toward us. It's a wonderful blessing to
understand and to know the loving kindness of the Lord. Surely
this then is a true statement. How excellent is Thy loving kindness,
O God! Therefore, therefore, the children of men put their
trust under the shadow of thy wings. And it's really because, as David
tells us in this psalm, the transgression of the wicked saith within my
heart, there is no fear of God before his eyes, for he flatters
himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity
and deceit, He is left off to be wise and to do good. He devises mischief upon his
bed. He setteth himself in a way that is not good. He abhorreth
not evil. And that's a very sad description
of a wicked person. But I'm sure that the Spirit
of God has worked in our hearts to recognise that we've been
there. And that the Spirit of God convinces us like It did
to David himself when Nathan came and said, Thou art the man. We won't be able to claim we're
a great person. We have to fall down before God
and realise, yes Lord, that really is described me. And then you
see David goes on. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the
heavens. Yes, you see, God's been gracious
because of his loving kindness. toward us. Thy mercy, O Lord,
is in the heavens, and Thy faithfulness reaches under the clouds. Thy
righteousness is like the great mountains. Thy judgments are
great deep. O Lord, Thou preservest man and
beast." And it's good to notice here these points. He points
out the mercy of the Lord. He points out the faithfulness
of the Lord. He points out the righteousness
of the Lord. He points out the judgments of
the Lord. And I believe that all these
things will direct us to the loving kindness of the Lord,
as we observe the truth of these things. as the Spirit of God
has shown us, the evil of our hearts, the wickedness of our
nature, directed us to his great favour and blessing to his people,
shown us his loving kindness toward us, and then we'll understand
the reason why David comes and says, therefore the children
of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. It's because we have such a kind
and gracious and loving God that we can come and we can put our
trust under the shadow of thy wings all our trust and what
that means is that we can come and confess our sins trusting
the Lord to be merciful trusting the Lord to be faithful trusting
the Lord would give us of his righteousness and trusting the
Lord would be that righteous judge toward us because of what
his son has done on our behalf Therefore, the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." It's an encouragement,
isn't it, to trust in the Lord at these times, to trust Him. And to be found again, let us
not lose sight of the blessed picture here, that if we're under
the shadow by God's grace, and it is only by God's grace and
God's mercy and love that we are close to him. You know little
chicks sometimes, when there's danger, what do they do? They
run to their mother. They run to get under the wings.
They run to find that place of safety. If you and I see trouble
on the horizon, it may be we see temptations coming. We may see temptations coming.
We may see The devil, as it were, setting up his stall to try and
engage us and try and tempt us. Blessing then if we run to the
Lord, to run, to be under the shadow, the shadow of thy wings,
to be close to the Saviour, to be safe there. How excellent
is my loving kindness, O God! Therefore, that you and the men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. Well, we have much
to trust the Lord for, don't we? We have to trust the Lord
that he will keep us. Trust the Lord that he will support
us. Trust the Lord that he will direct us and guide us through
our little life here below. And trust in the Lord that he
will bring us safe home at last to glory. It all comes under
this word of trust. And it's as the Lord gives us
that faith to believe these great truths. He enables us then to
trust in Him. There are wonderful words, aren't
there? Trust in me at all times, ye
people. All times. Yes, when the enemy
comes in like a flood, which he does sometimes, the Lord raises
up a standing against him. Thus far shall thou come and
no further. My friends that is having, we see and we can believe
and we can trust in the Lord that he will be there and we
will be safe under this shadow. Put their trust under the shadow
of thy wings. And then moving on to the 57th
Psalm. We see there in the 57th Psalm
and we see the very first verse Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee, yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities
be overpassed. Well, that gives us the picture,
doesn't it, that there will be times in our lives when there
will be special times of great need. It's spoken here as calamities. calamities, which rise up and
appear to attack us and appear to surround us. Well, the cry David was here,
to be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul
trusteth in thee, yea, in this shadow thy wings will I make
my refuge. A refuge for sinners. The gospel makes known, it is
found in the merits of Jesus alone. And my friends, what a
refuge that is, what a safety there is, isn't there? Because
if we're under those wings in that refuge, there's safety because
when Satan attacks us, or tries to attack us, what does he see? He sees the suffering Saviour. He sees Christ. He sees what
Christ has done. You see, it's that Christ has
redeemed us, that He's taken us in hand, that He shed His
blood for us. He's not able to pursue His agenda. No, because we're in safety there,
under these wings. It's a refuge, and it's a glorious
place of refuge, isn't it? I'm sure we're familiar with
those words in the earlier Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength,
and very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed. That's a great statement, isn't
it? They won't fear though the earth be removed. Though the
mountains be carried in the midst of the sea. Why? Because there's this great and
glorious safety, entrusting in the Lord and safety to be found
under and in the shadow of thy wings. Silas goes on, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, and the mountains shake
with the swelling thereof. Silas. Sometimes it appears like
that in our lives. Those roaring waters, they trouble
all around us. It appears we are going to be
overcome. It appears we may make shipwreck of our faith. These
temptations are very real sometimes. When the devil attacks us sometimes,
We fear we might fall into those temptations and then make shit-rick
of faith. Where shall we be? We've fallen
on the temptation of Satan. Now we're a blessing in those
times of great need to realize that we have here a refuge and
that is to shatter thy wings. He says, will I make my refuge. He'll run to that place The place
of refuge is really a place of safety, and it's just like this
here, under these wings, and he says in that situation, I
will cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth all
things from me. There was his confidence, wasn't
it? He wasn't in himself. His confidence was in his God,
as his refuge, as that shadow. under those wings there was his
safety and therefore he was able to cry unto the God with his
God with that confidence that God would perform all things
for him that God would deliver him he would shelter him he would
be a refuge as he flew to this place yes he was seeking for
that mercy and his soul his soul it's good to see that isn't it
my soul Trust it in thee, and the shadow of thy wings will
I make my refuge unto these calamities be overpassed. He shall send
from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would
swallow me up, sinner. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. My sword is among lions, and
I lie even among them that are set on fire. Even the sons of
men whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp
sword. Well, there are those who rise
up against us like that, and he comes and says, Be thou exalted
O God above the heavens, then thy glory be above all the earth. Well, I believe we see something
in God's gracious glory toward us, when we are found in this
place, seeking unto Him, and believe in the years, yea, in
the shadow of thy wings, Will I make my refuge until these
calamities be overpassed? And so we pass through times
of calamities. But in those times of calamities
we found sheltering under the wings of the blessed Saviour. That place of safety. And then
you see it passes. But we've been preserved. We
haven't been forsaken. We haven't been left to ourselves.
We haven't been left to fall as we so feared we might. God
has been gracious. He's been mindful of us and we've
been safe under these wings. I will make my refuge until these
calamities be overpassed. And then finally turning to that
63rd psalm. As it were, the psalmist seems
to be speaking of that wonderful confidence really in this psalm.
He spoke when he was in the wilderness of Judah. But he tells us in
this time, he says, Because thou hast been my help, therefore
in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. And he refers really
to that which he has spoken earlier. He says, O God, thou art my God. It's wonderful we can say that,
isn't it? Oh God thou art my God, I hope
we can today. Early will I seek thee. My soul
thirsteth for thee. My flesh longeth for thee. In
a dry and thirsty land where no water is. Well, that's what
this world is, isn't it? To the child of God. It's a dry
and thirsty land. There's nothing really that can
satisfy us here. No, we need the well of Bethlehem. We need the water of life. We
need the blessing of the Lord. To see thy power, thy glory,
so as I have seen thee in this sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness
is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. He comes round. Doesn't lead to this wonderful
word again. Lovingkindness is better than
life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while
I live. I will lift up my hands in thy
name, my soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and
my mouth shall praise thee with my lips when I remember thee
upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. You see
here we have a very different view to that which we spoke of
previously. The wickedness of the man. It
also spoke of those people thinking wicked things on their beds at
night. But here we have the gracious words of David as he was blessed
before God and he was able to come and say when I remember
thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches.
They're good times, aren't they? If you know anything of that.
When we wake up perhaps in the night And we're able to meditate
on the things of God, perhaps not for very long, but yet there's
a comfort in it, and there's a security in it, and there's
a blessing in it. And he says, then because thou
hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will
I rejoice. There he was in that place of
safety. There he was in that place of
blessing his God. But what he'd done, meditating
upon all that he was to him, rejoicing in his loving kindness,
and recognizing that he'd been here because, thou hast been
my help. Oh my friends, has God been your
help? I hope he has, I hope you can say yes. God has been my
help. He has been my help. God's people
can say that. Humbly. Thankfully. who hasn't
left us, he's been our help, he's helped us. Hitherto, and
can we believe in saying God has helped us, hitherto will
help me all my journey through and give me daily cause to raise
new Ebenezers to his praise. And so he comes and says, because
thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will
I rejoice. Yes, it's a blessing to rejoice
in the goodness of God. It's a goodness to rejoice that
we've been safe under the shadow of His wings. It's a good thing
to rejoice that He's hid us. We've hidden under the shadows.
That we've trusted in that place of safety under the shadow of
His wings. That we've found Him to be a
refuge and it's been a place of true blessing. And as we meditate
on those things, to be able to come and to rejoice in what God
has done for us. Why, there's tremendous room
here, isn't there? For meditation, for thought, to look to our own
lives, to trace out our path, and to realize the wonder of
the Saviour, what He's done in that place of safety. And it's
only that place of safety, it's only through what He has done. He shed blood, his death upon
Calvary's cross, his precious life that he lived, doing his
father's will, and that's the only place of safety. To be found
there under that shadow of this great and glorious truth, to
meditate upon it, to rejoice in it, and as he says here, will
I rejoice, well may we tonight, Rejoice indeed in that safety
under these wings, in the evidence of what Christ has done, and
to bless God for his wonderful favour and his wonderful mercy
to water. So let us think and meditate
upon the glory of these words in the shadow of thy wings. There is safety, eternal safety,
forever and ever. Amen.