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Psalm 91 has become a recent favorite of mine. In times of economic uncertainty and seemingly disappointment after disappointment God comforts me with this psalm. It simply says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (NKJV) This is a powerful statement. So my question to you is where is your secret place?

Secret Place

Without getting too dramatic, I think of a secret place as a place of safety. A place where although private, it is not necessarily secluded. It isn’t like your clubhouse in the tree that you used to play in when you were little. But as an adult, I have found that my secret place has become a place of refuge. As of late it has been in my car as I travel down the highway on my morning commute talking and communing with God. In that time I am able to relate all my frustrations and my worries to my all-knowing, ever-present Father in Heaven. He knows my anxieties before I bring them but yet he’s there to listen attentively and to calm all of my worries and fears through his Word and by his Spirit. The thing is that with your secret place in God, it doesn’t have to be compared to what others have. It is the place that you are able to find rescue and safety in the arms of a loving God. However, I have to relate the obvious and that is that real shelter and real safety is only found in arms that are familiar. Let me explain. Before I enter my secret place I may be anxious and worried about a particular situation, but as soon as I enter I subsequently relieve myself of these worries by confessing them to God. Because he knows me by name and I know him by experience, I can feel the relief that he grants me by hearing my problems and supplying me with answers for them. However, you might agree that without this type of relationship that it would be hard for me to experience this instant burden-relief. It would be more like the teenager that is struggling to get his parents to understand the problems that he’s experiencing in high school. He wants the relief but because of barriers in the relationship (e.g. communication) it is not there. I know that scene all to well--I was there once. Well I implore you to open up the lines of communication between you and the Father. The most obvious impediment to a clear line of communication is sin in your life. He wants you to agree with him that you realize your error and that you need him to correct it. Resting in the secret place of God is acknowledging his superiority over your inferiority. The apostle Paul struggled with something within his being that he sought the Lord to remove (see 2 Corinthians 12:8-10). I have no doubt that he entered the secret place of God all three times petitioning God for relief from whatever this situation happened to be. But God’s answer was that His grace was sufficient for Paul. That God’s power and ability to work on his behalf was enough to endure this problem. God examined the situation and saw how this circumstance would make Paul more like Christ (see Romans 8:29). God saw Paul’s weakness in this area and applied his grace to the weakness to make it power. WOW! Isn’t that awesome? Isn’t it wonderful to run to a loving Father that looks at your frailty and inserts his strength to make power? This is the joy that I find in running to the Father with my problems. Am I perfect in this area? By no means. I still have many times where I rely on my weakness to handle the problem. Did you know that the Greek word for weakness in 2 Corinthians 12:8 is our word for anesthesia? God knows that in our own power that we are rendered weak as if we were under anesthesia. So he steps in and finds the best answer (not the answer we always agree with, but the best one) to give us what we need to be more like Christ. His goal is to conform us to the image of his Son. We can never forget that we are here on Earth to function as ambassadors of Christ. This means that we have to endure our pain and our problems as Christ did (see Hebrews 12:2-3). Just always know that your Father is waiting to hear all of your pain and all of your problems if you would just run into his arms. He’s waiting to give you the answer you need in the secret place.

Dear God help me to run to you with all my problems, worries and fears. Demonstrate your grace to help me in my low points and when I feel that there is no other place to turn. Help me to realize I can come an abide under your shadow. Amen.

Suggested Scriptures

Psalm 91; 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

"Point of Reference" from Fred Price

Called To Brokenness