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“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty...Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee...Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” [Psalm 91]
Psalm 91 is a very well-known chapter...if you are not familiar with it I suggest you read the entire chapter. I am in the middle of reading a book on the secret place by Bob Sorge (excellent reading by the way) and some of this article is inspired by what he wrote.
The first verse of Psalm 91 talks about dwelling in the secret place, it then goes on to describe all the protection for those who are willing to dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Jesus talked about going into the secret place and shutting the door as well. What is this time with God?
Christianity - real Christianity - is not focused on doing things,
but focused on a relationship with God. We see this in the Mary and
Martha syndrome. Martha was focused on doing, preparing the meal, being
the perfect hostess, etc. Was what she was doing wrong? No. Jesus
and his disciples were hungry, they needed to eat. It wasn’t that her
activity was wrong, but that her priorities were wrong. Mary chose to
sit at the feet of Jesus and listen - the key word is listen.
Our relationship with Jesus is to be the priority. Everything else we do is to flow out of that relationship. As Bob Sorge points out, we can make the right decisions, do the right things but if it is coming from our wisdom and not our relationship with Jesus, we are still “missing the boat." Jesus did a lot of things, but He could also say, “I do only those things which I see My Father do.” Why could He say that (remember He walked this earth as a human being doing nothing that you and I cannot do through the Holy Spirit)? He spent time in His secret place listening to the Father.
We all need to develop that Secret Place relationship with God. If the only time we have time to be alone with God is when we are in a crisis, then we are missing out the real core of Christianity. It may look ok on the outside, but the inside is hollow. God wants us to come before Him regularly and listen. Too often we are interested in doing all the talking... God is the One Who knows everything, we need to spend more time listening than talking.
As we take the time to be with God, we show Him that He is our priority. We learn the presence of God and have His sustaining power when the crisis hits (and it will hit). When we have a special place with God we can run to (and it is not a physical place), we will go through the problems of life even when “ten thousand” others are falling - including other Christians.
Am I writing this because I have it all together? Of course not, I need this more than anyone. It is easy to get busy and skip the secret place, sometimes it is boring to sit and listen, sometimes... I’m on a journey...I’m learning...I will grow...and I have confidence you will too.
For more information about Glenn Davis see our About Glenn page and/or his Author's Page.