Hiding Places

"For He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will lift me high upon the rock." 

Psalm 25:7 ESV

I don't know a kid alive that doesn't have a place they like to hide out just to get away from the world. They run to it when their friends hurt their feelings, when their parents frustrate them, when their dog ate their homework, or just when they stub their toe on the end of the bedpost. When I was a kid living in eastern Arkansas, I would retreat to the woods behind our home. It was a place that I could run and hide when things got too big for me. But as I have gotten older, my problems have gotten bigger and my hiding places have changed. Rather than hide under my bed, in my closet or in the woods near my home, I ran toward someone or something that I thought at that time might fill the void left in my soul, even if it was for only a moment. 

Wrong turn Clyde...

Running to things or people isn't what we need to do. There is no one on this planet that can fix what is wrong with us. Sure they may give you the money you need to bail you out of a financial situation or help you get your truck off the side of the highway but what I am talking about goes much deeper than the superficial issues we face every single day. Rather than running to people or to nature, God simply wants you and me to run to Him. He has a hiding place that is perfect for us and is waiting for us when the world gets too big. 

God tells us in His word that we should go to the hiding place that always makes things better. David tells us in Psalm 27:13, "the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." If you are a follower of Christ, He is our hiding place. He is the light we need when the darkness is closing in around us. He is the strength that we can never possess in our season of weakness. I can hide in Him, but first I have to seek Him, find Him, and run like my hair is on fire to His hiding place. 

It is only when I decide that only in Him that I can find rest that I finally will find peace. It is only when I contemplate on the faithfulness of God and meditate on His word that I see a breakthrough in my life. I have to decide to rest in Him and only Him. I can't rest partly in Him and partly in my wife. It won't work. She can't handle the strain. She wasn't built for it. Christ was. I have to resolve to follow His word and do His will no matter what it costs me or how difficult my life becomes as a result. For it is in the times that it becomes hard that I need Him all the more and He will welcome me into His hiding spot.