As I considered this title of the Lord this week, I read (and re-read) Psalm 48. It actually closes with the designation we focused on last week, Christ as our guide unto death. The verses which spoke to me about Christ as my hiding place precede that title:
Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.
(Psalms 48:12-13)
My prayer for today’s devotional journey is that we will be encouraged to enter into Him moment by moment…to rest in Him fully and enjoy the power, the perspective and the beauty of His shelter.
‘Stop the world, I want to get off!’ The speed of life makes everyone feel like that sometimes. We all need a place to recharge; a place to hide when the pressures of life weigh upon us. Scripture is full of reminders that the Lord is the Hiding Place we need. All other fortresses: financial security, personal strength, our abilities, the love of others, earthly recognition will collapse. Too often, though, we trust in such temporary earthly things and fail to enter into God’s great strength. We rejoice in the beauties we find in this earthly life, beauties that can not last, and fail to contemplate the perfection of His palaces.
Thankfully anything we trust in besides Jesus will ultimately fail. I say ‘thankfully’ because otherwise we would fail to run to the only shelter which can protect, Jesus Christ! Lives outside of ‘the’ Hiding Place are a tragedy. Living outside of the shelter of Jesus produces empty lives without a legacy for future generations. Recognizing our limitations, our needs, and running to Him offers protection and hope for ourselves and others.
In Second Corinthians Paul reminds us that our weaknesses are our greatest point of strength. We do not want to center our minds on those areas of our lives where we are weak, though. To do that will only weaken us farther. Our need is to heed the instruction of Psalm 48:12, walk where God dwells and consider His power—the beauty of His holiness. We can not do anything for ourselves; He does not draw up strength from within us. He fills us with Himself when we ‘hide’ ourselves in Him. Our weaknesses, placed in Christ, are filled with Him. Jesus emptied Himself and left the glories of heaven to come to a lowly stable; He calls us to empty ourselves and leave the uncertainties of fleshly living to come to His fortified palace. What a tremendous calling…what an incredible exchange!
May we each determine to enter into His shelter moment by moment!
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