The Hiding-place

As a blogger, I have tried to honour your time with a meaningful interruption in your day. So, please allow me to bend your ear once again on a word that is front and centre in my life these days. I trust it may cause you to ponder, perhaps even contribute in a positive way to where you find yourself on life’s journey.

Discernment: having or showing good judgement, or as I have interpreted it, the need to understand and make a wise decision based on truth.

In Philippians 1, Paul wrote to the followers of Christ Jesus in Philippi:

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

Have you ever found yourself in a position when you need God’s wisdom as you practise godly discernment? That’s where I’ve been this past month. It’s been a long month in which there has been some major stress and a sudden sadness. And the need to make a decision—to be discerning— did not come easily or without much thought and prayer. As I struggled, I never felt God was some kind of a god looking down on me with a frown, pointing a naughty finger at me. Somehow, despite my frustrations and sadness, I felt a strange sense of peace.

During times like this, when life moves in on me or the hectic pace of a day adds to my stress level, a short reading from one of my devotional books can provide deep thought that stays with me throughout the day. I have many such books and I float back and forth from one to the other. But let me be quick to say that they have not replaced my Bible; they just reinforce God’s Word in my heart and head.

My favourite devotional is the one  used by my mother. I don’t know where she got it, but the title is simply Daily Bible Readings. It was published in 1863. The pages are stained, some are torn, the cover is broken, it has a musty smell that comes with age, and several readings have my mother’s handwriting in the margins. Here is what I read on Sunday, October 29th:

God only provides what is necessary for me, but he provides all that is necessary. The present world is like a bleak and cheerless desert, the climate is very changeable, and we are exposed to piercing, cutting winds. Sometimes dangerous errors, sometimes deep afflictions, sometimes searching and soul-distressing trials, like violent winds, blow upon us and fill us with alarm and dread; at such times a hiding-place is necessary. Jesus, the man who is God’s fellow; Jesus, who is one near to us, and can sympathize with us; Jesus, who has himself been exposed to all the bitter blasts of the wilderness; Jesus, who can give rest and safety, is appointed to be the hiding-place.

Beautiful, encouraging words, aren’t they!

When a person seeks out Jesus and the the hiding-place He provides, His presence provides a peace that replaces fear with trust. Nowhere else will a person find such safety or enjoy such peace.

Whoever goes to the Lord for safety,
    whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty,
can say to him,
    “You are my defender and protector.
    You are my God; in you I trust.” 
Psalm 91:1-2