My wife and I loved visiting the ancient ruins of Pompeii in Italy. Been there twice but never long enough. Last year the crowds were overbearing. Wall-to-wall tourists including us. We relished taking in what we could but didn’t have time for everything that we wanted to see. In these post-pandemic, travel boom days, we were sardined, chock full of travelers.

We heard about a recent Pompeiian discovery of two women in a home next to a bakery. They were crushed to death. Underneath them, archeologists unearthed that these women’s bodies were covering over a child. Probably one of the mothers hovering and covering, hoping beyond hope. What a tender yet tragic find.

The three died due to the accumulating ash and pumice which collectively collapsed the fragile roof of that home. Even without a chance to survive, the first instinct was to try to cover and protect that young child.

Now they’re unearthed two thousand years after that AD 79 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. They’re no longer under ash, yet still clutched together.

This discovery reminds me of how our Lord covers and hovers over us to safeguard us in times of trouble. I’ve sensed God’s hovering over me as some proverbial roof comes crashing down. I haven’t seen Him face to face, but I know that what He promises in His Word is true. He loves us and will never ignore us, hovering over us with tenderness and care.

Isaiah 31: 5 puts it this way–‘Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it; he will spare and rescue it.’ The literal Hebrew is more pointed–‘…So Yahweh of hosts will cover Jerusalem; Covering, he will deliver it, Hovering, he will save it.’

In the Book of Genesis, we find that God hovers over His creation–‘The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters’ (Gen. 1: 2). No Darwinian evolution. No Einsteinian Theory of Relativity. Forget about chance or happenstance. Rather God hovers over what His Spirit’s hands mold and fashion. He’s creating something special for Himself and His own.

Remember back to the exodus of Israel out of abject slavery in Egypt. How the angel of death passes over with judgment on all the firstborn. From human to animal, firstborn death would reign supreme. Sorrow would fill the air from the poorest of the poor up the social ladder to the high and mighty Pharoah himself.

But not for God’s people. They’re to be spared. Hovered over and covered. They’re to put blood on the doorposts of their homes allowing the angel of death to pass over them–‘The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt’ (Ex. 12: 13).

The Hebrew word ‘pass over’ can also mean to ‘hover over’ or to ‘cover over’. When we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His blood covers our sins, ushering in forgiveness. All through this life and eternity, God will devotedly hover over us so that no harm will ever be able to separate us from Jesus. Sure we’ll face troubles here and now, but we’ll never be alone.

He covers. He hovers. Think about that this week. That should make quite a difference, shouldn’t it?

Lord Jesus, thank you for all your good care of me. Amen.