I DO! – My Hiding Place – June 16th
I DO
June 16, 2021
My Hiding Place
Psalms 27:4-9a, ‘Here’s the one thing I crave from Yahweh, the one thing I seek above all else: I want to live with Him every moment in His house, beholding the marvelous beauty of Yahweh, filled with awe, delighting in His glory and grace. I want to contemplate in His temple. In the day of trouble, He will treasure me in His shelter, under the cover of His tent. He will lift me high upon a rock, out of reach from all my enemies who surround me. Triumphant now, I’ll bring Him my offerings of praise, singing and shouting with ecstatic joy! Yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh! Hear my cry. Show me mercy and send me the help I need! I heard Your voice in my heart say, “Come, seek My face;” my inner being responded, “Yahweh, I’m seeking Your face with all my heart.” So, please! Don’t turn Your face away from me. You’re the God of my salvation.’ (TPT)
Part Two:
That little girl who met Jesus at a backyard club when she was four years old would go on to play many games. She learned how to manipulate a system that had failed her. She convinced herself that no one was going to save her but her; it was ‘a dog-eat-dog world and she better just look out for herself cuz no one else was gonna’. But late at night, when the monsters came out to play; when she wasn’t ‘all-that’ and big girls really do cry; when there was nothing but her and Jesus, she could feel His wrap-around presence and she felt His tears for her heart upon her face. Every time she attended church or a youth group or a Christian camp, when the altar was called and the chance for forgiveness and acceptance was offered, that same little girl, no longer four but seven then ten then twelve then fourteen and so on, would raise her hand and scurry to the front or pray the sinner’s prayer. She had never understood that salvation is immediate and once for all, but sanctification and purification would be necessary for a lifetime. She scrubbed her soul til it bled, tried to white-wash her heart, prayed all the sin would come clean, that this Jesus could still say her name. She hoped. But she never believed.
It is incredible how far someone can run, and for such a long time. It is also very uncanny the lies we tell ourselves, the fabrications we believe, and just as unreal, all the truths that we never allow ourselves to consider. The Lord speaks to us in a gentle whisper because He draws us close, but unfortunately, the enemy of your soul and mine knows that, so He chants so loudly and with such chaos and force that it often drowns out the still quiet voice of our Savior unless we are really paying attention. That is what would happen to this little girl. Her flirtation with the world and all it had to offer, the promises of a seductor clamoring noisily in the background, and the constant reminder that she was damaged and filthy and of no worth any longer would neutralize any truth her Jesus was uttering into her spirit. Like a powerful agent, the enemy would absorb any truth Jesus spoke into her life; the shame and the guilt provocatively niggling in her ear. She knew once upon a time she had heard an unequivocal ‘I Do’, a purposeful promise, a kept commitment, deep in the core of her being, declared to her from the very mouth of God. But she could no longer hear His voice now that it had been replaced by the cacophony of a pseudo-god. Her world swirled out of control, a dust devil spiraling on a fast descent…
What a promise ‘I Do’ is! Whether we are committing to a person
or simply being intentional in life, our word should be a cherished commodity.
This month, journey with me in ‘I Do’ moments which are an oath, a vow, a pact,
a pledge, an honorarium.
