Many times I have read this verse in Psalm 91 but for some reason this time around when I read it the word “feather” jumped out at me. I instantly thought of the days when people were tarred and feathered. Don’t ask me why but I did. Turning to Google I searched for information regarding this horrible act.
It was stated that back before the late nineteenth century people took it upon themselves to punish other people by tarring and feathering them when they didn’t do what they thought they should. For example a Skipper of a boat was once tarred and feathered by a group of women in Massachusetts because he refused to aid seamen in distress. Truly it was used as an act of physical punishment of unofficial justice and revenge. For a time it was a legal punishment used in England and later used in extralegal demonstrations in the American colonies and the United States until the late 19th century.
As I found out it was an act of revenge and people taking the law into their own hands. What a praise it is that the feathers that the Lord covers us with is something that is totally different. It’s not an act of punishment, revenge, or unofficial justice. It is done for our protection out of love to create a shelter or hiding place for us. It’s not done to label us a bad person but to show how much God really cares about us.
With the Lord instead of being tarred and feathered as we really deserve because of our sins we are covered with feathers out of love. One feather at a time the Lord’s love covers over us. His faithful promises are our armor and protection. We get the choice to keep those feathers on us and snuggle into them or pluck them out one by one. Plucking them out by our attitudes, actions, and choices we make in life.
Recently our chickens have been losing their feathers on their backs. When asked what could be the cause of that, many people told us they are molting. It something chickens do once a year as they lose their old feathers and grow new ones. One chicken farmer asked us right off, “Do you have a rooster in with the hens?” When we answered yes he knew immediately the cause of the lost feathers was the rooster picking on the hens.
Its one thing to molt once a year to get rid of the old feathers in order to grow the new but a totally different practice to pluck them out ourselves. We need to ask ourselves, “Which are we doing? Are we molting or plucking. Are we getting rid of the old in order for the new to grow or just simply eliminating the blanket of protection God offers us through His promises.
In Romans 12:1 we are told to renew our minds, other scriptures tell us to get rid of the old sinful practices we once did and take on the new attitude of Christ. It’s a practice that needs to happen more than once a year. We are the ones who get to choose whether we will accept God’s shelter in the feathery comfort of His soft promises or pluck out what we don’t want to hear and try to build our own feathered bed to lie on.
Try as we might it will never compare to what God has to offer us. Molting or plucking? I’d rather molt if it means getting rid of the old in order to make room for the new, the new in Christ.
Our hostess for this mini-series through Psalm 91 is Twinkle Mom who will be sharing on her blog, SunflowerFaith. Fly on over there and share with others what the scripture today means to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment