Hiding Place

Jochebed makes a basket for

Moses - Exodus 2:1-8

(Illustrator of Lillie A. Faris's

'Standard Bible Story Readers,

Book 1-5', 1925-28)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Leviticus 5-7; Psalm 31

TO CHEW ON: "You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues." Psalm 31:20

When I think about God and hiding, I recall Corrie Ten Boom's book, The Hiding Place. In it, not only did the Ten Boom family hide the Jews, but God was a hiding place for them. (Remember the story of how Corrie and Betsy got a Bible past the guards and into prison with them?)

Whether we're in trouble or just need a refuge from the wear and tear of life, the thought of a hiding place in God is mighty attractive. The definition of the word "hide" expands our view of what this can mean.

[hide: To put or keep oneself out of sight, conceal. To keep secret, withhold from knowledge. To block or obstruct the sight of, keep from view. To keep oneself out of sight, remain concealed. To remain concealed as a fugitive.]

With those definitions in mind, let's look at some of the mentions of hiding and God in the Bible.

• God conceals us:

David is asking God to conceal him from the "plots of man" and the "strife of tongues" in our focus verse today. He prays similarly in Psalm 27:5 for God to hide him in the time of trouble, and in Psalm 64:2 from "secret plots" and "rebellious workers of iniquity."

• We hide in God:

We are the ones who run to God for hiding. "You are my hiding place," says David in Psalm 32:7; "In You I take shelter" - Psalm 143:9.

• We're close to God:

When we're hiding this way we stay close to God: "under the shadow of your wings" - Psalm 17:8.

• He hides and protects:

God becomes to us both a hiding place and a protection (shield). How? Through His word - Psalm 119:114.

• Hidden lifestyle

Hiding in God is where we can actually live: "He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty" - Psalm 91:1. I think of an iceberg and how it is nine tenths under water. That's how I envision this hidden life with God and ask myself, is the one tenth public part part of my life evidence that the nine tenths part is actually living and hidden in God?

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to hide in You in every sense of the word. May Your presence shield me from trials, enemies, tongue strife etc. But mostly, may the part of my life that people see be evidence that I am close to You, hidden in You. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 31

The Bible Project VIDEO: Atonement (Theme Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Divine Favor

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 60:1-22

 TO CHEW ON: "For behold darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you." Isaiah 60:2

On first reading this morning,  Isaiah 60:1-22 took my breath away. What is this? When is this?

My Bible's notes explain, cryptically, "While these glowing prophetic promises of restoration would bring hope to Israel in captivity, the fullest unfolding is messianic and eschatological" - Nathaneal M. Van Cleave, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 944.

["Eschatology: the branch of Christian theology that studies 'end things' whether the end of an individual life, the end of an age, the end of the world, and the nature of the Kingdom of God" - Dictionary definition.]

So yes, that makes sense. This prophecy foresees not only a time in Israel's history near to the prophet's lifetime, but also predicts end-time events concerning Israel and Jerusalem.

For me personally, though, this passage is a full-color illustration of what God's favor looks like at any time. (In fact, in her book of Scripture prayers Praying with Fire, Barbara Billette quotes freely from Isaiah 60 in her prayer for favor.)

According to Isaiah 60, God's favor:

• Brings light - Isaiah 60:1,19,20.

• Causes His glory to be seen upon the favored - Isaiah 60:2.

• Is a magnetic attraction - Isaiah 60:3.

• Unites and reunites families - Isaiah 60:4.

• Attracts wealth - Isaiah 60:5-9,11,16,17.

• Advances peace and security - Isaiah 60:10-12, 14, 18

• Exalts and builds up what is worthy of God's glory - "My sanctuary" and "The city of the Lord / Zion of the Holy One of Israel" (Jerusalem) - Isaiah 60:13,14.

• Brings joy - Isaiah 60:20.

• Comes with unlikely reversal: "A little one shall become a thousand, / And a small one a strong nation" - Isaiah 60:22.

What's the point of all this favor? To benefit the individual or nation favored? No. It's all to serve God's glory: "That I may be glorified" - Isaiah 60:21.

As we enter the new year, I don't think we're one bit out of line to pray for the favor shown in Isaiah 60 to be on our lives. But to always do so with one and only one motive—to advance the glory of the all-good, fair, all-seeing, just, loving One, the LORD in whom is not an atom of evil.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this vivid picture of Your favor. May I so live in the coming year that Your glory and favor rests on me. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Refugees—a crisis or…?

Graphic from Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Philippians 2:12-29

TO CHEW ON: "For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus."  Philippians 2:21

As I write this, the world is still in the thick of the Syrian refugee crisis. Justin Trudeau made a promise during the recent election campaign to take in 25,000 by year's end. Now that he's our Prime Minister, he's beginning to make good on that promise.

Not surprisingly, the media is full of chatter about this. Social media too. Often I see in my Facebook updates links to articles, and images designed to make me afraid of what an influx of refugees will do to our country. And there's no question the thousands refugees that pundits project will be settled in B.C., mostly the Lower Mainland where I live, will put a strain on schools, hospitals, medical facilities, organizations who integrate newcomers, not to speak of where will they all live and the biggie: ARE THEY SAFE?! Or by inviting them in, are we opening ourselves up to terrorist attacks like France experienced on November 13th?

I easily get swept up into this line of thinking and yet something about it troubles me deeply. That's why, when I saw the article title: "Building His Church in a Refugee Crisis" on my Twitter stream last night, I clicked through. What a breath of fresh air—scented with the fragrance of Christ—is this piece by David Crabb on John Piper's Desiring God blog. Here are a few choice bits:

    "What if, while America was asking questions about safety and risk management, Christians were asking, What is God doing? What if, through the senseless evil of civil war, God was bringing unreached people groups to our cities? What if, through great tragedy, God was bringing about the triumph of the gospel?

    Syria has over twenty million Muslims in eighteen unreached people groups. Christian missionaries have spent years praying, strategizing, and risking everything to go to these people. Now, God is bringing them here.

    ...One of the things that hinders Christian witness most is simply that the primary voice speaking in our heads, influencing our thoughts, and determining our behavior is not the Bible, but media pundits....   

    How would we view Muslims if we were steeped in God’s words so that we were thinking his thoughts after him? What would be our perspective on the refugee crisis if the Bible, and not our favorite news channel, was guiding our thoughts and directing our behavior?" (emphasis added - article linked below*).

So this morning, when I read in Philippians: "For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus," I can't help but look at myself in the mirror and feel convicted: 'That's been you, sister, seeing this crisis from a human, not a Jesus perspective, listening to the wrong voices!'

With God's help I'm going to do better with my thoughts and prayers about this refugee crisis and with whatever else is going on in my country, province, city, family…

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to become steeped in Your thoughts so that the thoughts and fears of the world would seem the foreign ones. Help me to be open to what You would do through me as I "…seek … the things which are of Jesus Christ." Amen. 


*Read the article "Building His Church in a Refugee Crisis".

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Is God enough?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Luke 12:22-40

TO CHEW ON: "Life is more than food and the body more than clothing... But seek the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added to you." Luke 12:23, 31

In 1943 Abraham Maslow published a five-point theory of human needs that describes us rather well. We all have the following needs:
1. Physiological needs: the things we need to survive: water, air, food sleep.
2. Security needs: the things we need to feel secure: shelter, employment.
3. Social needs: the need for love, belonging and affection.
4. Esteem needs: the need for recognition for our accomplishments.
5. Self-actualizing needs: the need to feel we are achieving our potential.

These needs build on each other (which is why they are often portrayed in a pyramid). We fulfill the more basic needs before we work on the next level. In other words, we won't be overly concerned with satisfying our self-actualization needs when we're out of money and don't know where the next meal is coming from.

In Luke 12 Jesus, talking to His disciples, says that for someone intent on pursuing the Kingdom of God "all these things shall be added to you." When He says "all these things" could He be talking about all our needs?

He certainly makes the outright promise to provide for our physiological needs of food and clothing (Luke 12:22-28). He implies that the way to get our security needs met is to throw ourselves on God (Luke 12:33). As for our social needs — the Kingdom is a community, made up of people with whom we share a common purpose and assignment. In Jesus' example, when the Master returns and finds His faithful servants waiting up for His return, He not only praises them with words but honours them with His service (Luke 12:35-38). That would certainly satisfy my need for esteem as I'm sure it would yours. And I would submit that as we seek to live alert and in a way that would always be worthy of our King's commendation (Luke 12:39-40), we achieve our highest potential and satisfy our need for self-actualization.

Do I believe this? Do you? The way we live our lives, the places we go to get our needs met is the evidence of whether we do or don't.

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to throw my whole self on You. May Kingdom life be my real reality. Amen.

MORE: "Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God"

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Secure because He is faithful

Modern Jerusalem - photo by beggs

(on flickr, via everystockphoto.com - used with permission)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 125:1-5

TO CHEW ON: "As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people
From this time forth and forever." Psalm 125:2

Psalm 125 is a "Song of Ascent"—one of the songs Jewish pilgrims sang on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the yearly feasts (Psalms 120-134).  In this one, the writer likens the travellers' security to the security of their destination, Zion (Jerusalem).

Eugene Peterson in his book about these psalms talks about Jerusalem's physical situation and draws a spiritual parallel:

"Jerusalem was set in a saucer of hills. It was the safest of cities because of the protective fortress these hills provided. Just so is the person of faith surrounded by the Lord" - Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, p. 85 (all page numbers below from the same book).

If we are so secure ("surrounded by the Lord") why do we often feel insecure? Peterson points out three possible sources of insecurity and how God anchors us even in them.

1. We listen to our feelings which change with circumstances. One day we're up, the next we're down.
To counter that, Peterson says, "... we learn to live not by our feelings about God but by the facts about God .... My security comes from who God is, not from how I feel" - p. 87.

2. We experience pain and suffering.
But these conditions are not permanent: "Nothing counter to God's justice has any eternity to it - 1 Corinthians 10:13" - p. 89.

3. We fear we will defect, give up, backslide.
About this insecurity Peterson says, "It is not possible to drift unconsciously from faith to perdition .... Defection requires a deliberate sustained and determined rejection.... We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us" - pp. 89,90.

Whatever life throws at us in the form of feelings, physical challenges, or self-doubts, we are secure because our security is not in ourselves but in our God who never changes!

PRAYER: Dear God, I am so glad that in You there is no "shadow of turning" and that You never change and that I can trust You to hang onto me even when I am discouraged, hurting or fearful. Amen.

MORE: Great is Thy Faithfulness sung by Chris Rice