Peeps!

Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Let me dwell in your tent forever! Let me take refuge under the shelter of your wings! Psalm 61:1–4

Most people that I know either love or hate Peeps, those brightly colored marshmallow birds that are popular (and everywhere!) around Easter. Maybe you’ve seen them in the grocery store (and maybe you’ve noticed that they keep coming up with new flavors of Peeps). Well, the next time you despise or enjoy those marshmallow birdies, let them remind you about how good and great Jesus is. That’s what David is doing in Psalm 61.

Did you notice the progression that David records in this psalm. He starts by asking the Lord to lead him to a high rock where he can be safe from his enemies. I like the way the NET Bible translates verse 2: “Lead me up to an inaccessible rocky summit!” So David makes his way in this psalm from the inaccessible rocky summit to a tower to a tent and finally under the shelter of God’s wings.

David, it seems, is moving from the safest place to a very fragile place; from the high inaccessible rocky summit to the “safety” under a pair of wings. The world, of course, would laugh at finding safety under a pair of “wings.” But the safest place is not a high rocky peak that your enemies cannot get to. The safest place is under God’s sheltering, protective wings.

Because of Jesus, God welcomes us into His personal care, like chicks under the wings of a mother bird. Now, notice the contrast: in God’s presence we have no right to come on our own merit into His tent, into His presence, but as “chicks” we have a “birth-right” to be under our mother’s wings. We have no right and no righteousness of our own to gain access into God’s presence. But when we trust in Jesus, when we are adopted into God’s family, we have every right to be there. We now have a “birth-right” to be under God’s wings. It’s where we belong and where we are most safe.

Alec Motyer is very helpful here. He says, “Loveliest of all, in our tinyness and insignificance, try being a day old chick and run to the sheltering wings.” We are tiny. We are weak. We are like day-old chicks. We’re Peeps.

That bothers us because, if we’re honest, we are allergic to weakness. But weakness is the channel that allows you and I access to God’s grace and peace. The Gospel uses your weakness as the door to God’s grace. Being helpless is what connects you to Jesus. Weakness opens the door to see Jesus. Weakness is what connects you to Jesus. Neediness is what qualifies us. The thing that we hate- weakness, helplessness- is what gets us in to Jesus!

That’s the sweet spot in life and ministry (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Realizing just how weak, needy, and dependent you are. It seems like a scary place to be, but it is reality. It’s where we are, whether we admit it or not. That’s who we are: day old chicks scampering about and running to the wings that provide us shelter. We’re just little chicks, little Peeps.

So when you see those brightly colored marshmallow Peeps this year, be reminded that they are a picture of you! Weak, but safe.

– Benji