CHRIST OUR HIDING PLACE

Psalms 143:9

Morning Meditation 4/1/14

"Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me."

This is a psalm of David. It is the last of the penitential psalms. Phillips says, "In all probability it was written during the time of the Absalom rebellion. Its prophetic overtones, however, carry us forward to the time of the great tribulation when the Hebrew people, in their extremity, will use such psalms to express their sense of need."

We also as Christians are being pursued by an invisible enemy from whom we need to be hidden. 1 Peter 5:8 says, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

Phillips says about David's request for God to hide him, "It was the only place to which David could flee to hide from his foes. He had found a welcome in God before; he was confident he would find a welcome there again. He ran to God as a child would run to a parent to escape a barking dog, as chicks run to the mother hen when danger looms, as a man runs to the cleft of the rock to escape the violence of the storm."

Christ is our hiding place. Paul says in Colossians 3:1-3, "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

Let's notice some things about Christ as our hiding place..

HE IS A SAFE HIDING PLACE

Isaiah 32:2 says, "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."

John Gill says Isaiah is speaking here of, "the King Messiah before mentioned; who had agreed to become man, was promised and prophesied of as such, had often appeared in a human form, was to be incarnate, and now is; though he is not a mere man; were he, he could not be what is here said of him, 'as a hiding place, and covert from the wind and tempest', of his Father's wrath, raised by sin; and which all men are deserving of, and on whom it must fall, unless secured from it by Christ; who has bore it in the room and stead of his people, has turned it away, and delivered them from it, and all the effects of it, so that nothing of it comes upon them; he has endured the whole force of the storm himself; and his righteousness, blood, sacrifice, and intercession, screen his people from it: he also hides and covers them from Satan's temptations, the blast of the terrible ones, which is as a storm against the wall, so as they shall not be destroyed by them; by praying for them, succoring of them, supplying them with his grace, and delivering from them in his own time: likewise he protects them from the rage and fury of their persecuting enemies, when they come like a 'whirlwind' to 'scatter' them; they have rest in him, when troubled by men; and security by him, when these winds and waves beat upon them; and when they are tossed with the tempests of afflictions of various kinds, he bears them up under them, and carries them through them, and delivers out of them, and brings them at last safe to glory."

Psalms 31:20 says, "Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues."

John Gill comments: "Thou shall hide them in the secret of thy presence.. That is, those that fear the Lord and trust in him; and therefore they are called his 'hidden ones', these the Lord preserves in times of trouble and danger, and when his indignation is out against others; and so the Targum is, 'in the time of thine anger'; the presence of God is their protection, he himself is a wall of fire round about them, his favor compasses them as a shield, and they are kept as in a garrison by his power; and that 'from the pride of man', which otherwise would at once oppress, bear them down, and destroy them."

HE IS A SURE HIDING PLACE

Psalms 27:5 says, "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock."

There are three shalls in this verse. David did not say, "if I get in trouble, I will see if the Lord will hide me." He said the LORD shall hide me. This is a definite word of assurance. The second is, "in the secret place of his tabernacle shall he hide me." This is a positive statement. Then third, "he shall set me up upon a rock." He is the Rock of a solid foundation.

When trouble is every where, the LORD shall hide me in his pavilion. Frequent seclusion is the best way to strengthen ourselves for conflict. (Ver. 5.) "In time of trouble, he shall hide me, and set me up upon a rock;" i.e. shut out from man, and shut in with God, is the way to conquer trouble and prepare for danger."

When the LORD hides one, there is no finding him. We can be only steps away from the enemy and he will not suspect it. The Lord is a sure hiding place.

HE IS A SECRET HIDING PLACE

Psalms 32:7 says, "Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah."

Hidden in God, there can no harm happen to him. Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. These are such songs as men sing when they have been delivered from peril. God will make such songs to sound in the psalmist's ears or in his heart.

I am reminded of Belshazzar who had such confidence in the Impenetrable walls of Babylon, threw a feast while the armies of the Medes and Persians waited outside trying to find a way in the city. Daniel 5:1-4, "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone."

Belshazzar was not safe because the armies outside rerouted the river that went through the city, and came in by the empty river bed.

We are hidden in God and can have our banquet and songs of deliverance and there is no way that Satan and the kingdom of darkness can possibly get to where we are. We are in His secret hiding place.

HE IS A COMFORTABLE HIDING PLACE

Psalms 61:4 says, "I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah."

The word "covert" means, " hiding place, shelter, secret place." The wings are the hiding place." This is a psalm of David. He needed a hiding place.

Why would David need a hiding place? First, because David did not want to engage Saul in a fight. It was not because he could not be successful in a fight with him. It was because David would not kill God's anointed. So, David chose to stay away in exile, rather than to engage Saul in battle. Second, David did not want to fight his brethren. He knew that they had been led astray by Saul's wicked attitude toward himself.

Next, David knew the warmth and protection one would experience, when he was comforted by the LORD. When we are close enough to sense the power of Christ, we will also have great comfort. If we are under the wings of Christ, the enemy would have to come through Christ to get to us. What a blessing this should be to us. Next,

HE IS A STRONG HIDING PLACE

Psalms 91:1 says, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

The Psalmist uses the word "dwelleth" and it means that he is not going to see the Lord on certain occasions. He is suggesting that we "dwell" in the LORD'S presence. We cannot be better protected than when we continuously by faith dwell in the presence of Christ.

Do we as Christians have this kind of protection? Colossians 3:3, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White