Our hiding place
by Rev Tim Muller
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You are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with glad cries of deliverance (Psalm 32:7).
When I was 17 years old, I remember watching the movie, The Hiding Place, at the Albury cinema in NSW. It is about Corrie ten Boom and her family. They were Dutch Christians who hid Jewish people in their home for their safety during World War II. The ten Boom family were eventually reported to the Nazi authorities, and Corrie and her sister were taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Corrie survived and later wrote the book, The Hiding Place. She gave witness to God’s help and protection for her and her sister Betsie, who died in the camp. Corrie believed that Betsie died safely in the arms of Jesus.
The psalmist David knew firsthand of the protection of God, particularly when he hid from King Saul, who was trying to kill him. David hid among rocks and in caves on several occasions. Have you ever had to hide for your safety? Many people throughout history have had to literally hide, and some still do. We can take this psalm verse as a wonderful metaphor for God’s protection and care.
I have a banner of Jesus the Good Shepherd in my office, made by Christians in a rural village in Pakistan. There is a lamb safe on his shoulders and sheep of various colours close by him. Jesus holds a staff to protect and guide the sheep. He is like a moving Hiding Place. In the middle of the night, when your thoughts spin and your fears abound, Jesus is with you. You can talk to him anytime – even your thoughts are prayers. Jesus is your safe place, your go-to in any situation.
As a pastor, I know people can be deeply disappointed when it seems like prayers are not heard, and it feels like the safety or protection promised in this psalm verse and others like it is not there. I want to say: persist in prayer, keep talking, express disappointments, frustrations, pain. God can take it. When others express to you their disappointment about God’s care, listen to their pain and, over time, affirm God’s love for them.
Somewhere there will be glad cries of deliverance – on Easter Sunday, from saints on earth and in heaven. Think of people who have gone on ahead, who are shouting and singing praise to a delivering God.
Pray for all who are in hiding at this time, hiding even in their own homes, looking somewhere for a safe space.
Prayer: Pray for Immanuel Woden Valley congregation and their partnership with the Lutheran Church in Cambodia. Pray that you continue talking, expressing disappointments, frustrations and pain to God, and entrust him to be your safe place and go-to in any situation.
Rev Tim Muller is from Immanuel Woden Valley ACT, which partners with the Lutheran Church in Cambodia.
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