In the OT HIDING is generally a literal place of concealment, a covering, usually a protection from life-threatening situations. The song was inspired by this verse:
Psalm 32:7. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
When used to describe God, in Psalm 64:2 David asks God, “Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the throng of evildoers” who were trying to ambush him. He relied on God to conceal him from their evil plans.
God can also hide Himself and hide information and wisdom indicating the need of divine revelation so His people will know Him and His will.
Isaiah 45:15. Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
Proverbs 25:2. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.
Deuteronomy 29:29. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
This explains why the psalmist prayed in Psalm 119:19, “I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!” It also points to the importance of personal Bible study. God can reveal His truths through preachers, authors and other means, but the primary way to discover His ‘secret things’ is by reading His Word and asking for revelation, praying as many of the psalmists prayed: “Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.” Psalm 69:17.
The NT word for HIDE or HIDDEN is like the OT word and used literally: “to conceal.” One unique use of this term is in the descriptions of what God does with the lives of those who believe in Him:
Colossians 3:1–4. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
When God looks at me, He sees Christ — who is my life. I am hidden in Him, making it possible to have an eternal perspective, to be dead to sin and alive to God, and to have great assurance that one day I will stand in His presence with Him in glory. In other words, Jesus Christ is my hiding place, my Deliverer, my strength when I am weak. He is my everything.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. There are days when life overwhelms me and I want to hide from the world, the television news, the grumpy complaining of people and even from my to-do list. What better place than to seek the face of the Lord and hide in Him! What does that look like? For me, it is a total focus on who He is and what He does. In that place, all my concerns, fears, even annoyances fade into the background and the glory of the Lord becomes a covering, concealing me from everything negative. Truly God is my HIDING place and fills my heart with music — then sends me back into the thick of things with renewed strength, much joy and restored and increased greater confidence in Him.
1 comment:
Tears. Thank you
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