Unshackled Moments ~ September 5, 2017 ~ The Perfect Hiding Place

Have you ever played hide and seek? I used to play it, and there wasn't much better than having a really good hiding place. The right hiding place made all the difference, and when you found one it was a thrill. They'll never find me here! But I never made the hiding places. I never did anything to make them better. I choose them and was sometimes praised for picking a good spot, but I didn't do anything to make them what they were. I simply took advantage of the great place I'd found.

How great is Your goodness, which You have stored up for those who fear You, which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, before the sons of men! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man; You keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.

- Psalm 31:19-20

In my life today hide and seek is no longer a game. It is a matter of life and death. There is too much out there in the world and too much in my own mind that I can not escape, overcome or face on my own. I have a brokenness, something not quite right with me, that makes it so that when left to my own devices I try to kill me. Slowly, foolishly and painfully. I am like an animal who keeps rubbing up against an electric fence just in case one day it doesn't bite me and drop me to my knees only to find that even when it doesn't my life isn't any better Yet, I do it again.

There are stresses and anxieties and obstacles out there I could never have imagined as a child. When I try to fight them I tend to fail...epically. And I have tried so many different hiding places. Some didn't work. Some worked well for a little while. Some had their own hidden dangers and hurt me more than what I hid from. But God. There are many verses in the book of Psalms that declare that God is, or wants to be, or will be, our hiding place. If you count the words, refuge, strong tower and shelter there are many, many more. I like the idea that God is good, that He has stores of goodness available for those who come to understand how great and awesome He is (what it means to fear Him in Psalm 31:19), and that His goodness works for us (wrought). When does it work for us? When we take refuge in Him.

I love that. We don't take refuge in our belief in Him. We don't take refuge in ideas about Him. We don't take refuge in principles that He puts out. And we don't take refuge in how we serve Him, honor Him, or obey Him. We take refuge in Him. And just in case there is any question, the psalmist clarifies by declaring that our hiding place is the secret place of His presence. His presence is a secret place where those who are not His can not come as enemies. They are welcome to join us in taking refuge there and becoming His, but the enemies of God can not reach through the goodness of His presence.

The grace of the hiding place must be remembered. We didn't build it. We didn't do anything to make it work or make it better. The most credit we can take and our only part in it is choosing to accept the shelter offered and crawling into His presence when invited. The hiding place of relationship with Daddy, His precious presence is not about what we do or what we have or haven't done. It is all about His goodness and love for us. But in that place we have hope. The past, the present, the future, our nature, the carelessness, callousness and cruelty of others and the random perils of life itself are no longer too much. We can walk free of fear, free of the things that we used to turn to, free of our inability to love and choose to do right, and free from even death itself. In the secret place of His presence is  the greatest hiding place, the great escape, that not only is a refuge from danger, but freedom from bondage and life worth living. We can go through each day secure in His goodness and care for us, and when we hide in Him, we don't have to hide from the world or from ourselves.

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