Read Psalm 17:7-9, Psalm 31:1-3, and Psalm 91:2-7. What does the psalmist do in times of trouble?

 The psalmist encounters various sorts of troubles and, in them, turns to the Lord, who is a refuge in every adversity. Trust is a deliberate choice to acknowledge God’s lordship over one’s life in all circumstances. If trust does not work in adversity, then it will not work anywhere.

 The psalmist’s testimony, “I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust’ ” (Ps. 91:2, NKJV), springs from his past experience with God and now serves to strengthen his faith for the future. The psalmist calls God the Most High and the Almighty (Ps. 91:1, 2), remembering the surpassing greatness of his God.

 The psalmist also tells of the security that one can find in God: the “secret place” (“shelter” or “hiding place”), “shadow” (Ps. 91:1), “refuge,” “fortress” (Ps. 91:2), “wings,” “shield,” “buckler” (Ps. 91:4), and “dwelling place” (Ps. 91:9, NKJV). These images represent safe havens in the psalmist’s culture. One needs only to think of the unbearable heat of the sun in that part of the world in order to appreciate the shadow (or shade) or to recall the times of wars in Israel’s history in order to value the security provided by the shield or the fortress.

 Read Psalm 17:8 and Matthew 23:37. What image is used here, and what does it reveal?

 One of the most intimate metaphors is the one that refers to being “under the shadow of Your wings” (Ps. 17:8, Ps. 57:1, Ps. 63:7, NKJV). This metaphor elicits comfort and assurance by implying the protection of a mother bird. The Lord is compared to an eagle who guards its young with its wings (Exod. 19:4, Deut. 32:11) and to a hen who gathers her chicks under her wings (Matt. 23:37).