Psalm 91:4
grounded meditation
Why Meditate?
Puritan pastor Thomas Manton believed, and taught, that reading Scripture, meditating on it, and prayer each have “their rightful place” in the believer’s life. Specifically, he said, “what we take in by the Word we digest by meditation and let it out by prayer.”
The goal of our time in “grounded meditation” is to encourage each of us to really unpack and “chew on” God’s Word. This is insight into my own head … my own meditation… may this be an urging to commit time in your own life to steep in the Word of God throughout this week.
He will cover you… you will find refuge…
I don’t want to get too caught up in the “pinions” and “wings” of this verse. They are quite helpful visuals to describe the covering and refuge we find in the LORD.
For the record though, a pinion is the outer part of a birds feather or wing. So, the visual here is intentionally doubled up to drive home the image to be created in the the reader’s mind’s eye.
Two big things stand out to me as a point of rest and reliance upon the LORD. The first is doubly emphasized here at the beginning. In this Psalm, our God - through the Psalmist’s prayer - is promising to be a covering and a refuge. He does this by utilizing language to point us to how protective a bird is of the eggs in its nest.
Because I love language, this meditation sent me to looking at what the Hebrew words here meant. The word we read as “cover” has a much broader definition. When the original audience heard this word they immediately envisioned a God who vehemently protects. The word, in Hebrew, can also be translated to say “shut in/shut off",” or to “fence about” or to simply “protect.”
God, as our “cover,” is more than just like a hood of a rain jacket - “covering” our head from drops of water. When we seek to envision God as “cover” we need to imagine Him as a fortress (as Psalm 46 helps us do). If we take the protective hen image, God proudly and actively protects… covers… shuts out evil… fences around us, protecting us… This is our God. We are not alone in our battles… we are not alone in this life.
But, immediately, the psalmist provides another image. That we would “find refuge under [God’s] wings.” I am a city/suburb person. But I am also a video game player. And for those that have played Zelda: Ocarina of Time you know that if you pick on the chickens (cukoos they are called) for too long… their justice is swift and absolute. Chickens - hens - can be fierce when protecting what is theirs.
To “find refuge” under the LORD’s “pinions” is a powerful place to be. It is there that, by the Hebrew word choice, “find protection” … it is there that we can “confide in” and “put hope in” … it is there that we “place our trust” in the LORD. When we find ourselves covered by God’s “wings” - we cannot be in a safer place. How so? Because “His faithfulness is our shield and buckler.”
His faithfulness is our shield and buckler.
The word here for “faithfulness” is the Hebrew word ehmet. It is the same word that corresponds to the “faithfulness” in the Fruit of the Spirit (and I have the Hebrew word tattooed on my arm!). This word is rich with meaning. Depending on the context, and Hebrew stem, this word can mean:
faithfulness
faithful
trustworthy
reliable
truth
… as well as other words. But all circling the same idea - the One of whom this word describes is without fault when it comes to their fidelity.
When we consider that it is God described here - that it is He Who is faithful… we get a more full understanding of the use of defensive language. “Shield” and “buckler” is basically just following a standard Hebrew practice in poetry - to repeat something twice with slightly differing words. Both of these words describe the same thing, emphasizing the idea.
Just like a teacher, who repeats themselves to drive home a point. They say it twice - to help you to better grasp the importance of the thing being taught right then. Its repetition helps you to see their desire to emphasize it… thus you need to see its importance.
You catch my drift?
God… as wholly and totally faithful… He is our protection. Our refuge. Our covering. Our hope. Our reliable fence. Our shield. Our strength against evil.
As we all enter a new week - let us remember this daily. Let us commit it to memory!