HIDING IN JESUS!

HIDING IN JESUS!

Today I finished a milestone on my journey along the road with Jesus.  As I look back from where I have been, I see His guiding hand all the way.  I see how along the way He worked some miracles for me, and gave me His strength to go on.  There have been some rough days and nights.  There have been days of discouragement and tears, but Praise His Holy Name, He hides me in the “cleft of the rock” as the storms roll on around me.

Last weekend I was so very tired and my husband and I were in a particular store looking at items, and I actually didn’t think I could go on.  I have had those moments before when the Lord will suddenly drop a song in my heart, and my spirit begins to sing.  It happened, as I shared, when I was in the hospital.  It happened during a time of cancer several years ago.  I might have shared in the past the song “Until Then.”  I was checking in a local store as a cashier, and I was so sick and was actually beginning to experience fear of the future, when all of a sudden that song was dropped into my spirit and I began to sing with joy.  It wasn’t out loud, of course, but deep within me.  I knew at that moment I would “go on singing and with joy would carry on.”

Last Saturday afternoon I began to hear the words of the song: “He Hideth My Soul.”  And my spirit sang for joy as the Lord gave me strength to go on, put one step in front of another.  Let me tell you about that wonderful old hymn.

As a blind person, Fanny Crosby faced daily insecurity, which is why she found so much comfort in the book of Psalms and why so many of her hymns point to the security we have in the Lord.

This gospel song was one of her favorites.  Like David in the desert, she sometimes felt alone and vulnerable.  In the words of Scripture, she prayed, “Hide me,” and she delighted in Psalm 32:7, which says, “You are my hiding place.”

But the verse that inspired this song is from Exodus.  Seeking to know God was with the Israelites in the wilderness, Moses asked the Lord to show him His presence.  God acquiesced to Moses’ request and assured him, “I will put you in the cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand” (Exodus 33:22, NIV).

In the New Testament we find that Jesus is the cornerstone who was rejected for us, and thus we who are Christians are hidden in the cleft of the Rock.  When we consider how the hand of God covers us and shields us from harm, we, too, can joint praise to God: “O glory to God/For such a Redeemer as mine! (HYMNS-William J. Peterson)

HE HIDETH MY SOUL

“A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, a wonderful Savior to me; He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, where rivers of pleasure I see.

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land; He hideth my life in the depths of His love, and covers me there with His hand, and covers me there with His hand.

A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord, He taketh my burden away; He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved, He giveth me strength as my day.

With numberless blessings each moment He crowns, and, filled with His fullness divine, I sing in my rapture, “O Glory to God for such a Redeemer as mine!”

When clothed in His brightness transported I rise, to meet Him in clouds of the sky, His perfect salvation, His wonderful love, I’ll shout with the millions on high!”  (Fanny Crosby)

I want to encourage you in the Lord this day, my friends out there.  In all our storms of life, and in those relief times when you have passed a milestone in your walk with the Lord, you can look back and see the rivers of pleasure that He brings to you in those mountain top experiences.  And truly when He drops His joy into your spirit, it truly is a “river of pleasure.”  He brings joy that truly flows like a river, flowing over you.

Sometimes we go through dry places, and we feel like our “well has run dry.”  The land around us is barren.  I am remembering the children of Israel as they wondered through the barren wilderness and there was no water.  But above them was a rock shadowing that dry land.  And when Moses struck the rock, streams and rivers of waters flowed down from it. In I Corinthians 10:4, Paul tells us that the rock was Christ Jesus.  So when we are in that dry place, right above us, overlooking the dry road we are traveling is the “Rock” Christ Jesus, and we hide in Him, He covers us, and feeds us with living water.

He holds us up and takes away the burden we are carrying and covers us with His love!  Oh, what a Wonderful Savior we serve!

“For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You in a time when You may be found; surely in a flood of great waters whey shall not come near him.  You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance” Psalm 32:6-7.

And when you feel like you are flooded by a river of trouble, sorrow and grief my bring pain to your heart, He is your hiding place from all our troubles.  And there is the promise:  He will actually surround His people with songs of deliverance, O Praise the Lord!

“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” Zephaniah 3:17.

The Lord is in the midst of His people, and He will save us as we pass through this journey and its struggles.  He brings quietness to the raging storm with His great love.  And I love this verse as it tells that He sings over His people!  He rejoices over us with songs of deliverance.  I hope this Word will bring great joy to your soul this day.

And then we have that great hope, whether we rise to meet Him in the sky, shouting with the millions all meeting Him there, or we go home to meet Him before that, we will rejoice and shout for joy when we see Him face to face.  All our struggles and trials will be over as we bask in His presence forever.

So take heart, let Him bring quietness to your soul this day, and fill your spirit with hymns of joy!

In His Blessed Name,

Pastor Sharon