Many are counting the days till lock down is over.  Countries have closed borders and put restrictions in place, but we all look forward to returning to ‘normal’.  COVID-19 has affected everyone.

 

In Leviticus there is a verse that speaks about counting the days.  God told his people to count 49 days, or 7 weeks from Passover, until the next special day.  That day was called the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost as we know it.

 

After eating the Passover lamb, the Israelites left Egypt with their families, animals and possessions.  Exactly 7 weeks later they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai.  God had wonderfully delivered them, but there was more.  When Moses had confronted Pharaoh, he said repeatedly, “The Lord has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so they may worship me.”  This was God’s ultimate purpose, to set his people free from slavery, so they could come into an intimate relationship with him – a covenant relationship.

All over the world children enjoy playing hide and seek.  Our three year old granddaughter is no exception!  As we count to ten, she rushes off to find a secret place to hide.  The bulge in the curtain gives her away immediately, but we pretend not to notice.

 

There is a secret place where we can hide too.  It’s a place where we are safe from the arrows of the enemy, and a place of protection when trouble comes.  This place is described in Psalm 91 as being in the ‘shadow of the Almighty’, or being ‘under his wings’.

 

What does this mean?  Let’s look at two beautiful pictures in the Word of God that illustrate the meaning of these phrases.  The first is of a mother bird sitting on her newly born chicks.  As the baby birds huddle under the wings of their mother, they are not afraid.  In this place they are safe and sound, and everything they need is provided for.