The Hiding Place
Posted by Dion Todd July 19th, 2020 6,438 Views 0 Comments
The Hiding Place from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.
Today I want to talk about the hiding place. How can you dwell in safety in a world filled with violence, peril, and contagious diseases? I want to examine the scriptures and see what we can learn from them. Let’s begin with Psalm 91:
(Psalm 91:1–4 NKJV) He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
This is a psalm of protection, possibly written by Moses when they completed the tabernacle in the desert. He writes of a secret place and abiding in the shadow of the Almighty. To Moses, the Lord was an overshadowing fortress, his refuge, his shelter. They were always on the move, and Moses could not depend on a stone structure to protect him from his enemies.
Moses said the Lord would protect us from the traps of the enemies, the snare of the fowler, and from dangerous spreading disease, the perilous pestilence. The theme is as if an eagle gathered her chicks under her wings to protect them from harm. In the same way, the Lord will cover you with His protection, but you should stay close to Him, in His shadow. His Word is your shield to block incoming attacks. We speak His word, and it changes our circumstances.
(Psalm 91:14–16 NKJV) “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”
The psalm does not mean that danger, or harm, or sickness, or unhappiness will never, ever visit us. The Lord Himself is speaking here, and He promises that He will deliver those who love Him. Now anytime we need deliverance, it is from something. He says “I will be with him in trouble” and that is key to walking with the Lord. It is not that trouble will not come, but that He will be with us through it. Also we will not have to suffer judgement like the wicked.
What this means is that when the judgements of God are in the land, they will not fall on the ones abiding in the shadow of the Lord. Fire and brimstone rained on Sodom and Gomorrah, but Lot and his family were already gone. When it began to rain and the floodwaters came, Noah and his family were already safe in the ark. They were just following the commands of the Lord and He took care of them, He prepared them for what was coming on the Earth. He will do the same for us, but we need to be obedient like they were.
Consider the Passover in Exodus:
(Exodus 12:12–13 NASB) ‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD. ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; 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.
The Lord gave Moses and the Israelites instructions to take the blood of a Lamb and mark the doorways of their houses, for a death angel was going to pass through Egypt and kill all the firstborn in the land. That sounds harsh, but Pharaoh had been having the Hebrew babies thrown into the crocodile infested Nile River for years. It was a plague sent on Egypt, a judgment sent by God. When the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s command and followed His instructions, they were protected from the plague, and no harm came to their houses.
Today Jesus Christ is our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) but obedience is still required, for even Jesus said (Luke 6:46) “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” In essence, our tongue is the hyssop branch that applies His blood to the doorways of our life (Romans 10:9).
When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, stood before the ninety foot tall statue of gold in Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar wanted them to bow down to it, and he threatened to throw them into a burning furnace if they refused. But they could not do that for the Lord had commanded them to bow to no other gods in Exodus 20:3. So that led to an interesting conversation, and one of my favorite phrases in scripture:
(Daniel 3:16–18 NASB) Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
They said: “God is able to deliver me, but even if He does not, I will not serve your god.” Their speech lined up with the Word of God. They pulled out their shield and buckler, and they stood firm. Nebuchadnezzar became furious and he had the furnace heated seven times hotter than normal. It was so hot that it killed the guards standing beside the three Hebrews, but when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego fell into the furnace, they met Jesus. Only the ropes binding them were burned away, for God is able.
There are so many examples of the Lord protecting His people from calamity in scripture, but they were in tune with Him. They were walking in obedience, and we should strive to as well. Jesus said this:
(Matthew 7:13–14 NASB) “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Jesus is the narrow gate, He is the door, no one comes to the Father except through Him:
(John 14:6 NASB) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
This was God’s chosen way to do it, and He didn’t give us “options” so we could pick and choose our method of salvation. You can read the Bible cover to cover and see that He never offers multiple methods of being saved. He does not offer a menu of religious choices. There is only one. He is not burger king, and you do not order it “your way.” Salvation is reserved for those who do the will of the Father:
(Matthew 7:21 NASB) “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
The way to be saved, to enter into the hiding place of the Almighty God, to escape the coming judgement, begins with salvation. The Apostle Paul preached it this way:
(Romans 10:9–10 NASB) that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
We believe in our heart, and we confess with our mouth, then we try and follow His commandments the best that we can. The chief of which is to “love one another” (Romans 13:8). This simple prayer is only the beginning of a very long journey. There is a lifetime of getting to know Him and His word, taking on the mind of Christ, and regenerating our fallen way of thinking that follows.
You can pray this with me if you like:
Prayer: Heavenly Father I thank You for sending Your Son Jesus the Christ to redeem me. I accept Your wonderful gift of eternal life. I pray that You come into my heart and lead me from this day forward. Please forgive me of my sins, speak to me in a way that I understand, and hide me under Your wings. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen!