From Psalm 71: 1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame. 2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 5 For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.
I had the perfect boyhood home. It was wooden and on blocks. It was near a creek back in the days when creeks had water and rainfall came often enough. My best friend lived three doors down, and my only grandma lived in the back yard in her own home. The house was raised just high enough and I was small enough, to provide a hiding place. There was a certain spot where I could lay for hours and not be found. In the heat of 90 degree or hotter weather, the coolness of the shade and the soft dirt, which was delicious for a time, hid me well. In all the times I hid there I never encountered anything of danger, no spiders, no snakes, or bugs; nada. I suspect David could not hide under his tent, but he knew hiding places. It may have been in a small cave or opening in the side of a cliff where he knew he would be safe from whatever, or later, whomever might cause him harm. And because of his relationship with God, he knew God was his hiding place and served him better than any cave or physical hiding place. I don't fit under any house today, and my boyhood home has been gone for over fifty years. The creek was paved and thanks to the Texas drought, it has no water. I don't know where my boyhood friend moved, and my grandmother has been dead since 1986. Yet, even today, like David, I have a hiding place in God. Yesterday, Nellie awoke with the thought of John Wesley's prayer room and found online a photo of it. As she and I talked about prayer and the many hours that Wesley spent in prayer, she said, "Imagine what he shared in there; he must have cried in there and pleaded in there with God." John Wesley had a hiding place, and so do you.
No castle nor fortress can compare to the strength and power of God. There is no rock large enough to offer us the protection and safety of God. If we are pursued by wicked people or from unjust or cruel people, we have in God the hope and trust that has been ours for as long as we have known about or more importantly known and had a relationship with God. Even before our birth, as soon as God knew us, He has loved and cared for us. Thanks be to God, and let us sing those praises for our God.
PRAYER: Thank You, O Blessed Lord, for the hiding place your provide. Thank You for sharing with us that strength and protection that we often need. As David prayed, so do I, be to me that which protects and keeps me, for You are my hope and my trust. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord!
Eradio Valverde
