“You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in Your word.” Psalm 119:114

Hiding

When your children were young, did they ever stand in plain sight with their hands over their eyes? And when you asked them what they were doing, did they tell you they were hiding? Mine did. I used to love that. They truly thought since their eyes were covered, no one could see them.

Have you ever done that with God? I have… actually, I am just coming out of a season of it. I have known for a few months that something not so pleasant was going to happen in my family. You know that Holy Spirit whisper—not “I’m living in fear,” or “the enemy is lying to me,” but the truth of a season of trial coming.

That whisper was sent to prepare my heart, to rest in the Lord, to strengthen myself for the battle. Instead, I chose to hide from the Lord, spend less time with Him and more time playing Kindle games, watching TV and eating foods that are not healthy for me—hoping, I guess, that if I stayed away and didn’t acknowledge the warning I was given, somehow the event wouldn’t happen.

It did happen, and I am less prepared for it than I could have been. God is not to be hidden from. Rather, He is our hiding place. “You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah” (Psalm 32:7). Psalm 32:8 goes on to say, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye.”

A good thing I have noticed during this time, however—something that I would not have noticed had I gone immediately to Him—is that the many hours I have spent in the past with the Lord did not leave me. The knowledge of His faithfulness, the smile on His face as He looks down upon me, was still there. I did not go into my customary pattern of running right over to where the problem is and immediately trying to fix it in my own co-dependent way. I took a deep breath and meditated on all the victories the Lord has had in the past in my family. The love and yearning I know that He has for this particular child to turn back to Him. To come to Him, not in fear as she did when she was small, but in reverence and awe. To finally get that He loves her, for her…not for what she does or doesn’t do, not for what she hides or doesn’t hide, just for her…purely because He adores her, and wants to show her how much, if only she will let Him.

Which is exactly what He is saying to me right now as I write these words, and I am hoping He is speaking the same thing to many of you as you are reading this.

Lord, I pray we would run to, and not away from, You in times of trouble, and that we would know that as we trust in You, mercy surrounds us (Psalm 32:10). Thank You for loving us, no matter where we are at. Forgive us for hiding from You, and thank You for being our beautiful Hiding Place. Amen.