You do not need to fear arrows that fly during the day. Our fears which terrorize us during the night can just seem to be worrying thoughts in the daytime. But again the Lord says we have no reason to fear. They cannot even find you!
He will cover you with his feathers. Does the picture of God as a mother hen disturb you or encourage you? When a hen takes her chicks under her wings, they are completely hidden from sight. Can you imagine yourself hidden in that safe, comfortable, warm place?
A refuge is what we need in the middle of a storm or in the middle of a battle. A fortress is the place where we seek protection, and from which we fight the enemy. Whatever our needs in life, whatever we are running from, or fighting against, the Lord's shelter is the place to run to or to fight from. For He is the security we need in every circumstance.
I have often found myself being disappointed by the number of Christians I know who are ill! Not seriously ill, (although there are many who are), but who suffer from colds and flu, and the sort of wintery sicknesses that most people have come to expect.
Just in case we felt that the word in the previous thought was a bit extreme, we have confirmation here. The chapter begins with a sad report of what the shepherd's of Israel are not doing, and continues with a promise that the Lord Himself will shepherd His flock.
In the Psalms we often see David, the individual feeling hopeless. Here it is a whole nation. But it was not God's intention to leave them in their hopelessness. He saw their misery, and wanted to revitalise the sad discouraged community of Israel. There are many groups, churches, communities and nations today who need to know that the Lord can make dead bones live.
He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I said, "O Sovereign LORD, you alone know." What a wise answer! Ezekiel knows enough of the Lord to know that he himself knows nothing, and that God is full of surprises. Can you think of a situation in your life or someone near to you today which has been taken for hopeless?
Here we see Jeremiah overcome by the need to speak out what the Lord has given him. Praise God that again today He is raising up prophets who speak out for Him, but we are all called to speak out the word of the Lord in our own circumstances.
In our previous thought we suggested that our misdeeds can result in our own ill health, now we see that they can result in someone else's poor health. In Thought 1 we talked about the "one flesh" of marriage. Here we see the effects of being joined with a "bad lot". It is encouraging that the Bible tells the same story all the way through. God never changes, and 'one flesh' means 'one flesh'.
Throughout the psalms the bones are taken as representing the health of the whole body. It is a sign of serious illness or serious worry when David the psalmist talks of his bones. But in every case he ends with confidence that the Lord will move, that He has heard the prayer and will answer.
EN 
FR