3. Life in the Shadow of God's Wings Psalm 36:7-9

Text:  “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Whom I trust.”

                                                                                                                  Psalm 91:1-2.

Good morning, God-guarded Christian!  You and I have absolute no confidence in our own strength, our own personal abilities; our own wisdom; nor our own human resources.  No.  Our confidence is placed where all genuine Bible-believing Christian confidence should be placed – in the Lord God Jehovah, the Almighty Creator of all things.  Hallelujah!  Under the shadow of His Divine wings, we are Eternally secure!

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them Eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.  My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father’s hand.  I and My Father are ONE.”  (John 10:27-30)

The lost reprobate is, sadly, not in this position of Eternal security, and shall never reach such a position in Christ Jesus.  This made Christ sad outside Jerusalem:

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.  Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.”  (Matthew 23:37-38)

Without necessary shadow, we would burn under the glare of the sun.  Without the protection in the shadow of God’s wings, sinners burn in the Hell-fires of sin.  Oh that men/women would turn to Christ Jesus and be saved, while it is yet the day of God’s Sovereign grace!

“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him/her return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him/her; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”  (Isaiah 55:6-7)

Verse 7.  “Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.   Oh, that more of Adam’s race knew the excellency of the Heavenly shelter!  It made Jesus weep to see how they refused it: our tears may well lament the same evil.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 175)

The ‘cursed’, or what we Calvinist theologians term ‘the reprobate’, are those whom have not been ‘elected’, chosen by God the Father in Eternity, to be graciously saved.

Because they are ‘reprobate’, (Eternally rejected by God), they are of course, born under the curse of sin that will never, can never, and shall never ever, be lifted from them.  They are, in fact, ‘the cursed of God’. 
Sadly, humanly speaking, they are doomed, they can never be saved, even if a million Spurgeon-like preachers should witness to them with the most eloquent Scripturally sound sermons ever preached.  Their ears, eyes, and hearts are not open to receive the engrafted Word of God that might otherwise bring faith to them as God’s gift, that they might be saved.  Fact.

The Lord God instructed His prophet, Isaiah, to go to such ‘reprobate people’ and inform them that they had not been chosen of Him in Eternity, hence his message:

“And He (God) said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”  (Isaiah 6:9-10)

If YOU are reading this Bible Lesson and are saved – it is because God the Father ‘elected’ you in Eternity to be saved, and granted you faith, in time, to hear with your heart (your inner essence of being) and receive saving faith to believe (trust) in Christ and in His one-time Sacrifice for your sin on Calvary’s Cross.  You believed and were saved because your ARE ‘the elect of God’, as opposed to being Eternally ‘reprobate’, rejected of God.  Salvation is totally, and completely of the Lord God, alone! 

“But I will sacrifice unto Thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed (in the belly of the great fish).  Salvation is of the Lord.”  (Jonah 2:9)

Even plunged down into the sea; further down into the belly of the great fish; even taken by that great fish down, down, down below the mountains of the ocean – Jonah was safe and secure, because Jonah had been ‘elected’, chosen of God to be saved, from way before the earth had ever been Created by His hand. God was in Sovereign control of every aspect of Jonah’s life, and delivered him according to His own grace.

“And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.”  (Jonah 2:10)

Do YOU believe this story, Reader?  I hope so. Because IF you do, it is because God has elected you to receive vital faith which enables you to believe and be saved. If YOU do not believe this piece of Holy Scripture, it is because you are reprobate, rejected of God to receive the faith necessary to believe and receive Christ’s Salvation.

In this world today, there are only Christian believers, and reprobate non-believers!  Christ Jesus is the only way of Eternal Salvation – exclusive of all others!  This is the Gospel truth!  No frills attached.  Believe and be saved.

Verse 9.  “For with Thee is the fountain of life. This verse is made of simple words, but like the first chapter of John’s Gospel, it is very deep.  From the Lord, as from an independent self-sufficient spring, all creature life proceeds, by Him it is sustained, through Him alone can it be perfected.  Life is in the creature, but the fountain of it is only in the Creator.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 176)

Thought: While there is life there is hope – pray for those presently unsaved.