I wonder if His secret place is beneath the shadow of His wing — His Presence
From time to time I will be sharing parts of my story with you on Faith Notes. God truly is amazing, isn’t He? He astounds me often.
Today I’m sharing an excerpt from my book, The Perils of a Pastor’s Wife where I help my reader understand the concept of the secret place of the Most High. Have you ever thought about it? Ever wondered where it is and how to get there? I have!
The Lord promises in Psalm 32:7 that He is our hiding place and in Psalm 91:1 He promises that when we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, we will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. Are you intrigued too? I hope my exploration of this great truth will add to your understanding. Don’t you just love Him today?
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I’m learning that the quickest way to hide in the secret place of the Most High is to speak the Name of Jesus.
It’s that simple. “Jesus … Jesus.”
At times in my life, that was all I could say. I couldn’t pray. I couldn’t see past the mountain before me. Other times I was so weakened by sorrow and despair I had no fight in me. I had no ability to run to Him. But when I called out His beautiful Name — the Name above all names — Jesus, He ran to me and spread His wing so I could lie down and rest there in the security of His presence.
Can you see that beautiful image? The Lord always responds to the sound of His Name.
To repeat: when we’re too weak and overwhelmed to run to Him, we can call out the Name of Jesus, and He’ll run to us and hide us in His secret place. Oh, what a glorious thought!
Psalm 91:1-2 reads, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
I’m reminded of a recent journal entry where the Lord clearly showed me that He’s my fortress — my hiding place. He revealed this lesson to me in my garden:
I hit the fallow ground hard with the hoe. Dirt sprang up with every blow. Weeds surrendered to my hand. And I watered the earth with my tears.
Unimaginable anguish gripped me. Life had been coming at us hard lately. Not only us, but those we love. It felt as though everything was tumbling out of control. We have a very uncertain future. Someone we cherish tried to take his life. False, evil accusations from someone we considered to be a sister in the Lord attacked the very core of who we are. This avalanche had consumed us within a three-day stretch.
This morning, I didn’t know if I could survive the enemy’s assault.
As the day went on, I attacked the garden space with angry fervor. I pounded the earth with my hoe, weeping with gut-wrenching sobs. I ranted and raved about everything. About nothing. I caught myself proclaiming to no one but the spider clinging to the neighboring milkweed, “Everybody leave me alone!”
When I’m in this much emotional pain, I cocoon. I go into my cocoon and build up walls of safety around myself. I build a fortress all about me. So leave me alone!
As sure as the sunrise, at that moment, I heard the Lord say, “Nan, I am your fortress and your refuge. It is in Me that you live and move and have your being. In Me.”
This morning, I didn’t know if I could survive the enemy’s assault.Well, okay then. That quickly got my attention.
Once again the Lord reminded me of Acts 17:28: in Him we live and move and have our being. Isn’t that remarkable? If only we could get that into our knowers.
We’re surrounded and immersed in God’s Presence when we walk closely with Him as His child. What I perceived as a cocoon, a place where no one could find me, a place of solitude, a place to collect my thoughts and survive — my cocoon — was actually exchanged for His secret place at the time of my salvation.
I no longer need to build my own place of safety from the world. I am in Him. And so are you.
Oh, how great the Father’s love for His children! Can we fathom it? Can we awaken our hearts and allow His love to swell within us like ocean waves? Is it possible to open our ears and hear His sweet whispers of affirmation and His shouts of delight simply because we are His? Yes. Yes, it’s possible.
Zephaniah 3:17 reads, The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.
The Lord delights over us with irresistible joy. The Hebrew word for “rejoice” is gil (geel), which “suggests dancing with joy or leaping for joy because the verb originally meant to spin around with intense motion.” *
God celebrates His love for us.
Shouldn’t we do the same?
When we call out to Him in our distress, when we run to Him and hide within His mighty Presence — at those times His Father’s heart swells to overflowing with love for us. In the shadow of His wing, He quiets us with His love. In the shadow of His wing, He lulls His child to peaceful sleep. The anguish dissipates. The fear is cast out. And the tears cease.
I may not want to praise God for my circumstances, but I can always praise Him for Who He is. I can always celebrate His goodness and His love. A heart filled with praise is a heart that can rest in her Father’s love — it’s a heart that beats in the secret place beneath the shadow of His wing.
*The Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1344
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This message first appeared in Chapter Eight of The Perils of a Pastor’s Wife:
The Secret Place Beneath His Wings: The Perils of Anxiety and Fear. Click here to read more.
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Thank you so much for stopping by. I would love for you to share what’s on your heart in the comments below. Scroll a little farther down and you’ll see where you can leave your comments. Together, we can find the nearness of God in our darkest moments.
Sweet blessings to you,
There are times when it’s hard to pray.All we have to say is HELP