11 My Hiding Place!

My Hiding Place!

"God is known in her palaces for a refuge." Psalms 48:3 "The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runs into it, and is safe!" Proverbs 18:10

"Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!" Isaiah 43:1-3

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging!" Psalms 46:1-3 "And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind — and a covert from the tempest!" Isaiah 33:2

"A MAN!" you cry, with visible disappointment. Is all your boasted refuge come to this? A man! What can a man do — what can all the men in the world do to screen me from trouble, or support me in it? Ah, if you can tell me of nothing better than a man — then there is no hope! No! A much less storm than this before me, would crush me to atoms. A man is my hiding-place! You do but mock my woe. If you had told me of Michael the archangel — or if you could have assured me, and convinced me, that twelve legions, or one legion, of angels, that excel in strength, would be instantly despatched for my relief — that would have been something. But to bid me be easy and fear nothing, and then tell me of a man that will undertake to secure me! How can you expect that I . . . Not so fast. When you come to know who this Man is, you will be satisfied that I could not have directed you better, and that it is the same as if I had said, "Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope!" Know, then, that the Man here alluded to is no other than the "Man Christ Jesus" the same as is called the "Son of man" — such a Man as never before was heard of — a Man in whom dwelt all "the fullness of the Godhead bodily."

"This is the Man, the exalted Man,
Whom we, unseen, adore;
But when our eyes behold His face,
Our hearts shall love Him more!"

Now, then, I hope your fears are a little subsided; and you begin to think, that if you are found in Christ — then no storms can hurt you. What a blessed covert Christ is in all the storms through which we pass! Look at that poor penitent, how he labors and is heavy laden! Hark! how piteously he bemoans himself! "Oh, these cursed sins of mine — to what wretchedness have they brought me! These are the sins that have broken my peace, and robbed me of my chief glory, and rendered me loathsome to God and myself. I am afraid to look up to Him, and I am ashamed that He should look down on me. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?"

I will tell you who — the Man Christ Jesus. "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin!" That precious blood has made satisfaction to Divine justice for every sin of every penitent believer — and if you are such, your sins, as numerous as they are, shall be like a debt cancelled, which can never more be demanded — or a stain washed out, which can never be seen more.

"He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities! It pleased the Lord to bruise him — he has put him to grief" — so that the dreadful storm of God’s wrath spent itself entirely on the Man Christ Jesus! If you see a thunder-storm gathering, and have time to get to a castle, or some other firm building — then you do not heed the rattling tempest without; let it blow, let it rain, let it thunder; you are dry, and safe, and comfortable. So it is with the soul, when it betakes itself to Christ. Now I am afraid of nothing. "There is therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." Now, if God were to frown and threaten to strike me — I would step behind this Man, and say, "Behold, O God, my shield, and look upon the face of your anointed!"

Reader, I hope you rejoice to see what a comfortable and safe hiding-place Christ is in the tempestuous season of conviction of sin. And if there were nothing more to recommend Him, this would be enough. But when this storm is blown over, there are many other blustering winds and piteous tempests which you may expect to meet with.

Sore temptations. Satan is always an adversary, and the soul is always in danger; but there are some particular seasons when the danger is more immediate and pressing. It was such a season that the apostle referred to when he said, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day." Sometimes, like an old serpent — he lies in wait to deceive. At other times, like a roaring lion — he seeks to devour. But whichever way it is, he pushes his temptations with such violence and constancy, that the poor, trembling believer is ready to cry out in despair, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Satan! I never can hold out against such frequent and fierce attacks. Never was anyone so harassed. I cannot resist any longer. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me?"

I will tell you who — the Man Christ Jesus. He will be a covert from this tempest too. "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need!" Hebrews 4:15-16. He encountered the powers of darkness and overcame them, and led captivity captive. This is great encouragement to tempted Christians! You have a friend in Heaven, who ever lives, making intercession for you. While you are struggling below — Jesus is praying for you above. The storm is gathering sometimes a great while before it falls; but we think nothing of it, and go on quite thoughtless and serene, until it darts over our head and surprises us at a disadvantage. The consequences would be fatal, if our ever-watchful Guardian did not foresee the intended mischief, and counter-work the designs of our enemy. "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon — Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith does not fail."

Depend upon it, the only safe hiding-place in troublesome times, is the Man Christ Jesus. I do not mean that He will always screen you from trouble, or presently deliver you out of it. There is a "needs be" sometimes that you should be "in heaviness through manifold trials."

Many, when they are smarting under the rod, are apt to say, "If God had taken away any other of my comforts — I could have borne it. If it had not been for this or that circumstance in my trouble — I should not have minded it."

Why, then the affliction would have done you no good; you would have despised the chastening of the Lord; or, at least, you would not have been roused by it to that humble dependence upon God, which this smarting trial was intended to bring you to. The hour of death is a trying time, which all must pass through. If we escape all other storms — we must come to Jordan at last. And the passage is oftentimes tedious and tempestuous. Many things concur to make it so. The pains, the groans, the dying strife — the parting with houses and estates, with family and friends, and everything we loved in this life — and the thought that in a few hours we are to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ!

Now, what is the best covert in this tempest? Where must a person in the agonies of death look for comfort? The world cannot help him. If he had his house full of gold, it would not give a moment’s ease to his tortured body or his aching heart.

Friends cannot help him; they pity him; they weep over him; they wish him safely through — but their tender soothings only serve to increase his distress.

No; he looks on his right hand, and on his left — every earthly refuge fails him. But, "a man shall be a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest!"

"Jesus can make a dying bed
Feel soft as downy pillows are;
While on His breast I lean my head,
And breathe my life out sweetly there."

Adorable Immanuel! If it had not been for You — such a storm would have crushed me! If I had not taken shelter in Your arms — such a tempest would have hurled me into Hell! Yet You are the Man who was my covert from every storm! Gracious, glorious Lord! I see now that I owe all I was, and all I am — to Your free and boundless love! Great is the mystery of godliness — God was manifest in the flesh!

If I had seen You in the days of Your humiliation upon earth, I might have thought it impossible that You should be God. Now that I see You in Your glory — I wonder how You could be man. But I know You were both — and it is well for me that You were. If You had not been both God and man, I, and millions more, had never been here. Glory, glory, glory to Immanuel, our hiding-place on earth, and our dwelling-place in Heaven. "Let all the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy!" Glory, glory, glory to Immanuel!