Do you need some protection and cover in your life right now? God has the answer for you.
He who dwells in the SHELTER of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1, 2 NIV84
He that dwelleth in the SECRET PLACE of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1 KJV Hebrew: for the word secret in this verse is is covering, hiding-place, secrecy.
We all no doubt played hide-and-seek as children, thinking we had that perfect and secret hiding place. I can remember hearing the breath and the footsteps of the person who was ‘on’ passing me by and my heart beating faster. Being the last to be found always seemed like such a victory did’t it? Better still, we’d be announced the winner and get another opportunity to hide.
Some of you reading this article have found yourself trying to hide from your circumstances, your fears, your failures or your past, hoping you’ll win another round of hide-and-seek. There’s a much better way to hide.
The secret place I’m talking about is not actually a place but a person. David, a great ‘hide-and-seek player’ in his time, clarifies this so well in Psalm 32:7 “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.” That person is Christ, the anointed one. I still find it hard to grasp how for some Jesus seems to be so hidden and hard to find; as if He was hiding from us.
Many people see the ‘Secret Place of the Most High’ as a special place you can get to, earn, arrive at or even achieve in God – a kind of ‘some effort required’ place…and when you make it there you are protected from harm and danger. I’ve heard them talk about taking this journey every day. A kind of place or state you eventually achieve by some effort on our part – searching, trying to get to ‘the next level’, or even climbing the rungs of some ‘faith ladder’ to get there. I have found that it’s not that difficult to distinguish between ‘faith works’ and works of faith.
Every word that proceeds from the mouth of God and the mouth of the Christ is anointed and full of life. I was a privileged boy to grow up in a household of faith under a father who preached the word of God under the unction and anointing of the Spirit of God and whose words in turn were charged with the life and power of God. And I never knew him to ever have to work at this anointing, because it wasn’t his, it was God’s. He knew His God and retained a pure heart before Him!
You see, this ‘secret place’ is not a ‘place’ or ‘state in God’, but a PERSON: Jesus Christ himself! “He is my refuge”!
David understood this and wrote these words in Psalm 32. For YOU are my hiding place; YOU protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory. [Interlude]
The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.” Many sorrows come to the wicked, but unfailing love surrounds those who trust the LORD. So rejoice in the LORD and be glad, all you who obey him! Shout for joy, all you whose hearts are pure! Psalm 32:7-11 NLT
What I am trying to say is we have a choice: we can expend our energy in the pursuit of direction just like a senseless horse or mule or we can hide, shelter and rest in the person of God and His anointed One!
There is an interesting parallel in John 15 where Jesus says, “Abide (remain/hide) in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4, 5 NASB
My mom (I miss her forthrightness these days) – she used to say, “an apple tree doesn’t have to say ‘now I must produce apples’, ‘I have to produce apples’,” she said the life of the tree and the kind of fruit it would bear were all within the seed.
Imagine a vine branch saying, ‘I need to find my place’. It doesn’t, it just remains connected to the vine and bears the juicy grapes we all enjoy.
The common reality in the two examples about seed above is that the seed has to die before it comes to life. Colossians 3:3 (one of my favourite books in the Bible) says this “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” We’ll talk about this another time.
Where are you resting and dwelling? Save your energy for the great harvest that is busy ripening. Others want and need to be nourished by us. Hide and remain in Jesus!
