{"id":4796,"date":"2025-08-05T07:55:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T11:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4796"},"modified":"2025-08-05T07:55:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T11:55:57","slug":"hypo-under-gods-wings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/05\/hypo-under-gods-wings\/","title":{"rendered":"HYPO: “Under” God’s Wings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0<\/em>

Numerous species of\u00a0birds exhibit a special behavior when it comes to parenting.

They shelter their young with their wings.

A parent’s wings protect from rain.\u00a0And bright sun.\u00a0And wind.\u00a0And predators. Wings provide warmth.\u00a0And a secure place.\u00a0And the much-needed gift of time – the time that fledglings need to grow and mature before they head out into the wide, wide world.\u00a0\u00a0

Barnyard cats and dogs may close in on helpless chicks, only to see them dive under a hen\u2019s wings. When thinking of humans, we tend to associate \u201cmother hens\u201d with doting, over-protective parenting. But on the farm, few predators \u2013 even when they are bigger and stronger \u2013 relish the thought of taking on a seriously motivated hen committed to defending her young,

The psalmists frequently attribute\u00a0such parental commitment\u00a0to God.

According to Psalms 17, 36, 57, and 63, our safe place is “under the shadow of God’s wings.”\u00a0The most memorable of those declarations is Psalm 91:4: “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>

Psalm 91 is one of the Bible’s\u00a0“high security” texts. Each\u00a0of its 16 verses seems to shout, “God’s in the driver\u2019s seat here; everything’s going to be OK.”\u00a0

It includes this remarkable promise: “For he will command his angels concerning you\u00a0to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone”<\/em> (vs. 11-12).\u00a0

Satan (who knows the Bible\u00a0as well as anyone at church camp this summer) used those very verses to taunt Jesus:\u00a0“Go ahead and jump off the highest point of the temple.\u00a0That ought to bring the crowds around.\u00a0This\u00a0Father of yours promised he would never let you get hurt, right?”\u00a0 (Matthew 4:5-7)

But Jesus wasn\u2019t having it.\u00a0“It’s also written, ‘Don’t tempt the Lord your God.'”\u00a0God’s promises of security are not declarations that we are Marvel comics superheroes.

So how, exactly, does God make good on that extraordinary promise of security?

The stunning answer is the willingness of God\u2019s own Son to suffer and die so that we might live.

A preposition tells the story.

As Jesus approaches Jerusalem for the last time \u2013 knowing that he is heading for trial, torture, cross, and grave \u2013 he sighs, \u201cJerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under<\/u><\/strong><\/em> her wings,\u00a0and you were not willing\u201d (Luke 13:34).

The Greek word translated \u201cunder\u201d is Anglicized as HYPO<\/strong> (pronounced who-pah<\/em>).

It lives on as a prefix in numerous English words, particularly in the realms of science and medicine. A shot is administered by a hypodermic (\u201cunder-the-skin\u201d) needle, whereas someone with low blood sugar is said to be hypoglycemic (\u201cunder-the-right-level-of-sugar\u201d).

Chickens can only fly short distances.\u00a0There’s no easy escape from disasters\u00a0such as a barnyard fire.\u00a0But a hen will do what she can.\u00a0

Farmers occasionally report, in the smoldering ruins of an incinerated barn, the discovery of the charred body of a lifeless hen \u2013 only to see living chicks scurry out from beneath her wings, having been protected from the flames.

In Psalm 91 we learn that God is the\u00a0refuge we can always trust.\u00a0In the story of Jesus we learn just how far God is willing to go to keep that promise.

When God says he will cover us with his feathers, it means he is willing to die for us.

So, what is our role in this drama like no other?

We are called to go HYPO<\/strong> \u2013 to place ourselves under<\/u><\/strong><\/em> the sacrificial work of Christ.\u00a0

He assures us that He is the only safe place to live out our lives in this wide, wide world.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here \u00a0Each weekday in the month of August, we will pursue \u201cprepositional truth\u201d by zeroing in on a single Greek preposition in a single verse, noting the theological richness so often embedded in the humble words we so often overlook.\u00a0 Numerous species of\u00a0birds exhibit a special behavior when it comes to parenting…. Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[973,473,972],"class_list":["post-4796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chickens","tag-prepositions","tag-under"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4798,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4796\/revisions\/4798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}