Psalm 91:3-4
For He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence;
He will cover you with His pinions,
and under His wings you will find refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
Every once in a while the Old Testament looks a bit far afield give us imagery for God's love and care. Today's verse is one such example. God is being likened to a bird guarding its young. The image of gigantic wings overspreading us and shielding us from harm is a strangely inviting one. And, to be sure, there are times when God does prevent suffering from befalling us. But it is even more beautiful to realize that, in the Incarnation, the wings of God are not gigantic, but are rather small and fragile like a partridge's — or like us. Then the wings shield us, not by hiding us, but by showing us how to fly and escape the fowler's snare as Jesus escaped the deadly pestilence of the grave. His faithfulness shows us, not how to hide from suffering, but how to suffer like Him and gain the resurrection. That is, after all, why He came at Christmas. Today, celebrate the life that has conquered death in the newborn Christ Child.
