We have been living in tents all this month in South Africa. Little did I know when I was staking in my tent into the ground, how much God was going to use it to symbolize something so much larger than a shelter.
The wind started hitting all sides of my tent violently. The rain beat my tent on all sides. As I laid on my sleeping pad, I could catch flashes of lightening striking the ground outside of my tent. Thunder growled like a roaring lion getting ready to pounce his prey. It was the first of many nights of thunderstorms. Before the storm rolled in, I had listen to a song called The Hiding Place by Jared Anderson. His lyrics were on replay in my mind as the storm pushed through our little village.
I will run to the hiding place
I have found myself a hiding place
I have found myself a secret space
In the shelter of Almighty’s love
In the safety in the Savior’s arms
I will run to the hiding place
I will run to the hiding place
Draw me ever closer to look upon Your face
I will run to the hiding place
I have found myself a hiding place
I’ve found myself a secret space
In the refuge of the Father’s care
In the cleansing blood of Jesus there
I will run to the hiding place
I will run to the hiding place
Draw me ever closer to look upon Your face
I will run to the hiding place
And though my fears may overwhelm me
And troubles they surround
Though the wind rise up to take me
My hiding place is already found
I found myself a hiding place
I found myself a secret space
In the shelter of Almighty’s love
In the safety of the Savior’s arms
Run, run, run
I’ll run to the hiding place
Run, run, run, yeah
I’ll run to the hiding place
Oh, I’ll run to the hiding place
I’ll run to the hiding place
During this storm, I cried out to God. During this storm, I broke. During this storm, things that I thought I had dealt with came to the surface as fresh wounds. As tears streamed down my face, I realized this was just the beginning. My tent became my hiding place. I talked to God about wounds and asked God questions about his character and for wisdom. I found rest. I found refuge.
The tent was just a symbol for the Spirit that was always at work within me. My hiding place never leaves me and is open 24/7.
As I was thinking about my hiding place, I recalled a book my parents had given me. It was an autobiography of Corrie ten Boom, a famous missionary during World War II, called The Hiding Place.
Corrie’s father read Psalm 91, the night before her family was captured by the Nazis and thrown into a concentration camp.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because heb]”>[loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
I will run to my Hiding Place. He is safe. He is good. He is trustworthy.
“Today I know that such memories are the key not to the past, but to the future. I know that the experiences of our lives, when we let God use them, become the mysterious and perfect preparation for the work He will give us to do. ”
“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.”
“Do you know what hurts so very much? It’s love. Love is the strongest force in the world, and when it is blocked that means pain. There are two things we can do when this happens. We can kill that love so that it stops hurting. But then of course part of us dies, too. Or we can ask God to open up another route for that love to travel.”
“There are no ‘ifs’ in God’s Kingdom. His timing is perfect. His will is our hiding place. Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will! Don’t let me go mad by poking about outside it.”
Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place
