THE CELESTIAL DOVE

THE CELESTIAL DOVE

I loved growing up in the Vale of Leven. Swimming in Loch Lomond. Walking in woods full of life, babbling burns (a.k.a., brooks), flowering rose trees, (a.k.a., rhododendrons), pine trees concealing cooing woodpigeons, and camouflaging cawing crows. The air was always fresh. The breeze was ever perfumed with earthy scents of ringing bluebells, and leafy lanes.

Tullichewan Farm, next to where pigeon hut was

I developed a love for pigeons, the doos, as we called them. To some they are just rats with wings. To others, such as me, they are some of God’s most fascinating little creatures. They can fly home blindfolded, even after being taken a thousand miles away! Amazing!

As kids we did the old stick and cardboard box trick. Tie a piece of string to stick. Then position it to hold up a corner of a cardboard box. Chuck some bread under the box. Hide, and wait for some unsuspecting pigeon to enter the trap. Pull string and you have yourself a doo.

Aye, like music, the cooing of the doos soothes the troubled mind, even when I reflect back to my childhood days.

I notice during these strange times of Coranaviruses and COVID-19 that a lot of Christians are receiving comfort from one of the Psalms, Psalm 91 to be precise. I must admit, that reading this psalm is as soothing to me as was the mournful cooing of the woodland doves of my boyhood.

I won’t read the whole Psalm, just the first four verses, but some call it The Refuge Psalm. It starts with the words,

He who dwells 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 Him I will trust.”

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler. Psalm 91:1-4.

The COVID-19 is a form of pestilence. It’s a plague, an invisible plague. Nowadays we have electron microscopes by which we are able to see these tiny wee microscopic bugs. As you know, corona means crown. Coronation, a crowning event, and all of that. Miniscule crowns, gazillions of them, are attacking and damaging humanity. It’s a pestilence. Therefore, Psalm 91 applies to today’s situation.

The line in Psalm 91 in which the Psalmist says, “Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler” is using a fowler, i.e., a bird-catcher’s trap, to illustrate what God does for those who belong to Him, i.e., the Christian.

Notice the cross on the turret that was next my boyhood pigeon hut 

We used to take the forty-minute train ride into Glasgow from Balloch to catch pigeons at George Square. The pigeons there would basically land on your bread-filled hand. All you had to do was wait for the pigeon of your choice, then grab it. Mind you, you practically had to flee for your life with bird in hand. The city dwellers had no idea that you were rescuing the doo from the dungeon of drudgery among the sooty lums and slums, for a life of freedom among the clean air of the bens and glens.

God sets us free from the snare of the fowler, to give us life, i.e., life in abundance! We are safe in His hand. No one can snatch us out of His hand. Like that pigeon trapped under the cardboard box, He has brought us out of the kingdom of darkness, and He has set us free in the kingdom of the Son of His love. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” John 8:32. There you go Christian, you’re as free as a bird!

So, God rescues you from the snare of the fowler, but look at what else, “And from the perilous pestilence.” The perilous pestilence is another way of saying the destructive plague. OK. This is where it gets a bit more to the point of where we’re at with this COVID-19 plague. Is God promising that He will grant immunity against CORONA-19 for all Christians? Are Christian already inoculated? Is the vaccine in being born again, born of the Spirit? If only!

Keep in mind the verse where Jesus says, “He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” Matthew 5:45b. Therefore, Christians don’t necessarily escape the evil on earth, just as non-Christians don’t necessarily escape the good in this life. But remember who walks with you through death’s dark vale. “Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the LORD has not commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed?” Lamentations 3:37-38.

The idea is that we ought to be like Job who said, “Though He slay me, yet I will trust in Him” Job 13:15. This is your basic application of Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me: Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Therefore, there’s comfort in the knowledge of God’s sovereignty in all things.

We won’t spend too much time on it, but Psalm 91 does go on to say,

 “You shall not be afraid of terror by night, 

nor the arrow that flies by day, 

nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, 

nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday” Psalm 91:5-6.

Got it? We are to trust God. Whether through the night or whether through the day, we are to trust what He is telling us. Always! What’s the good in doing this? Back in verse four it says, “His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” That’s the same truth that sets you free. Free from what? Yes, free from sin and eternal darkness. Free from the judgment of God. However, it also sets you free from being afraid of terror by night and the pestilence that walks in darkness.

Yes, take all the logical and sensible precautions against COVID-19. Wash your hands plenty, don’t touch your face, social distance, even self isolate and all the rest. However, God, in this Psalm, is telling His people not to be afraid. Why? Because He’s got this! And who knows what good He will providentially bring out of this when it is all over and done with?

Anyway, Psalm 91 contains one of my favourite verses of Scripture, “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge” Psalm 91:4a.

I used to love the way my pigeons would raise their young. As a rule, the mother pigeon would lay two eggs. Then she would feed the tiny little hatchlings milk from her crop to theirs. Then, as they matured, she would regurgitate crop to crop more solid grains until they were weaned.

In later years, one of my beautiful daughters named one of my doves “Snow White” for obvious reasons. One day my neighbour came banging on my door. Her cat had dragged one of my pigeons into her house. Could I come and rescue it? Snow White was in a bad way, but still alive. I placed her in her nesting box with her two little babies, squabs, or “squeakers” as we called them. It was evening and darkness was falling fast. In the morning light I looked, and there was a baby pigeon’s head poking out from under each wing. They had blood on them.

Snow White had died cradling her little ones. Christ died cradling His loved ones.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, 

and not have compassion on the son of her womb? 

Surely they may forget, 

yet I will never forget you. 

See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands” Isaiah 49:15-16a.

May the One Charles Wesley referred to as the “celestial Dove”, (i.e., the Holy Spirit), alight upon you to be your Comforter. And may He apply the blood of Jesus to you, that you may fear no evil during this time of darkness.

“Expand Thy wings, celestial Dove;

 Brood o’er our nature’s night;

On our disordered spirits move,

And let there now be light.”