Our Hiding Place

We have all felt it: the pangs of disappointment, setback, or discouragement make us want to just run away. Some people do run from their problems, others find a “get-away” in drugs, alcohol, video games, or porn. Still others just shut down in depression. To hide from these feelings or to sit back and criticize those who are experiencing the desire to flee from the scene due to the tremendous hurt is to turn your back on the reality of life. David, from the Bible, expressed it this way:

Psalm 55:4–6 (ESV) — 4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 5 Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. 6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;

It’s amazing how if we could just fly away, get away, or start afresh somewhere else everything would be alright which sometimes is the very reason people leave their jobs, their marriages, their church, and much more. They buy into the commercial that says, “wanna get away?”

The problem of just getting away literally or through means of temporary substitutes is that wherever we go, we take ourselves along, and therein lies the problem. Granted life is tough but God has promised as tough as life is, His promises never fail, His mercy is new every morning, and His grace is sufficient. What we need in times like these is a “hiding place,” a place of refuge from the storm, a place where God binds up our wounds emotionally, physically and every other way.

Psalm 32:6–7 (ESV) — 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. 7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

Notice the call to those who know God. The godly offer prayer to God when affliction strikes, or as David describes here, the rush of great waters. That seems pretty accurate if you have missed out on a job for which you were counting, or the person you had hoped would be your lifelong mate decides to break the relationship, or you can insert the very thing that troubles you. “The rush of great waters.” It’s a feeling of drowning in flood waters that keep coming no matter what you do. Discouragement upon doubts, upon disappointment and it just keeps coming. But wait! The call by David is to offer prayer because God will be found.

Isaiah 55:6–7 (ESV) — 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

When you are facing times of difficulty do not neglect the call to seek the Lord. You will never be turned away as you call upon Him in desperation.

Psalm 102:17 (ESV) — 17 he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.

Back to David’s words in Psalm 32, when you call upon the Lord, the assurance is that the great waters that you are fighting your way through shall not reach you. Maybe you feel they have, but the promise is the Lord is with you and He will never leave you.

Isaiah 43:1–2 (ESV) — 1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

Hebrews 13:5–6 (ESV) — 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Psalm 23:4–5 (ESV) — 4 Even 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. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Notice in all the scriptures above that the difference is the Lord who is your Shepherd is with you through the difficulty and His presence turns the situation from an overwhelming flood to a “hiding place.” It’s not the outward situation, it’s the inward calm that if He is with you, you have a hiding place from whatever the storm is in your life. Look again at David’s word of comfort.

God is David’s hiding place and God is there for you to be your hiding place and the passageway to this hiding place is through prayer by which you seek Him because He has promised to be found when you pray. He has promised to carry you through the moments of despair and give you hope. So much so that David calls it, “shouts of deliverance.” That is a promise of victory.

God’s promises are not to be taken lightly; rather studied, memorized, meditated upon, and used as guidance and a help in prayer.

2 Peter 1:3–4 (ESV) — 3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

God’s promises bring us to our hiding place. Never discount the value of God’s word.

Psalm 119:114 (ESV) — 114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.

The word of God and prayer, two means of God’s grace that take us to our hiding place, which of course is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 32:2 (KJV) — 2 And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, And a covert from the tempest; As rivers of water in a dry place, As the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.

Godspeed,

Bob Brubaker, Pastor

Christ Community Presbyterian Church – Clearwater, FL