My hiding place
“Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”Psalm 32:7
Reflection
Everyone needs a hiding place — a safe place to run to when life attacks. In childhood, perhaps it was a parent’s embrace or a corner of the room. In adult life, we seek that refuge in many places: in work, in distraction, in people, sometimes in vices that promise relief. But David, who wrote this psalm, discovered the only hiding place that never fails: "THOU art my hiding place". Not a place, not a thing, not a person — God Himself is the refuge. And, unlike all the others, this hiding place is always available and never collapses.
Notice what this hiding place does: "thou shalt PRESERVE me from trouble". It does not necessarily say the trouble will cease to exist — the world remains the world, with its threats. It says that, INSIDE God, we are preserved in the midst of it. It is like a shelter during a storm: the rain keeps falling out there, the winds keep blowing, but whoever is in the shelter is preserved. To hide in God does not mean the problems vanish, but that they do not destroy us, because there is a safe place where our soul is kept while the storm passes.
It is important to note the context of this psalm. David wrote it after a terrible period in which he TRIED to hide from God — hiding his own sin, keeping silent, pretending everything was fine. And he describes the result: "when I kept silence, my bones waxed old... my moisture is turned into the drought of summer" (v. 3-4). Hiding FROM God consumed him; hiding IN God preserved him. There is a radical difference between fleeing from God (which only increases the anguish) and running into Him (which brings preservation). Often, in guilt or pain, we do exactly the opposite of what we should: we distance ourselves from God when it is precisely in Him we should hide.
And see the beautiful image David ends with: "thou shalt compass me about with songs of DELIVERANCE". The hiding place in God is not a silent and gloomy place; it is a place surrounded by songs! When we hide in God, we are not merely protected — we are surrounded by reasons to sing, by memories of past deliverances, by hope that produces music in the heart. The refuge in God is not only defense; it is celebration. If today you need a hiding place — if anguish is attacking you and you do not know where to run — run into God. Do not flee from Him because of guilt or pain; hide IN Him. There you will be preserved, and you will discover that the safest hiding place in the universe is also the one most full of songs of deliverance.
Prayer
Lord, You are my hiding place — the only refuge that never collapses, always available when life attacks. Forgive me when, in guilt or pain, I flee from You instead of running into You. Today I hide in You: preserve me from trouble and compass me about with Your songs of deliverance. In my refuge, may my soul sing again. Amen.
Put it into practice
When anguish attacks today, instead of running to the "hiding places" that do not preserve (distraction, vice, isolation), run into God: take refuge in Him in prayer. And recall "songs of deliverance" — past moments when God preserved you — to fill your hiding place with hope.
To reflect on
To what "hiding place" have you been running when anguish attacks — and what would change if you hid IN God instead of fleeing FROM Him?
Bible text: King James Version (public domain).