P.S. I Still Love You! It’s been many months since I’ve written anything specifically for Moms in Hiding. I was reading Psalm 32 this morning, the day before Mother’s Day, so I already had moms on the brain. Since I wrote a post about being found in Christ & hidden with Christ just last night [Be Found in Him], v. 7 caught my attention. Writing a post for Moms in Hiding seemed the next logical step! 😀
For Moms in Hiding
Scripture References:
| Psalm 32 | Psalm 91:11-12 | James 1:14-15 | Colossians 3:3 |
| Matthew 11:30 | Deut. 6:16 | Psalm 19:12-13 | Philippians 3:12-14 |
| Matthew 4:5-7 | Exodus 17:1-7 | Psalm 139:23-24 | II Corinthians 5 |
*To see all Moms in Hiding posts, click here.
My Hiding Place
“You are my hiding place;
Psalm 32:7 (NIV)
You will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.”
Here the psalmist, David, is making declarations about God, to God, under the influence of the Holy Spirit*.
*I Sam. 16:13; Matt. 22:43; Mark 12:36; Acts 1:16,4:25
In Psalm 32:8-9, this changes. Now, God is speaking to David:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
Psalm 32:8-9 (NIV)
I will counsel you with My loving eye on you.
9Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.”
For Psalm 32:10, the voice changes again, and I’m just going to say for simplification that the Holy Spirit is speaking because it’s not clearly David or clearly the Lord, but it could be either of them:
“Many are the woes of the wicked,
Psalm 32:10 (NIV)
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in Him.”
That’s Not Your Job!
In the four verses of Psalm 32 I shared above, 7-10, God is:
- protecting
- surrounding
- instructing
- teaching
- counseling
- (watching)
- (loving)
What is David doing?
- hiding &
- trusting
If I’m honest, I kind of like God’s list better than David’s… most days. You know, except for those days when I have NO ENERGY. Then hiding & trusting sound pretty good!
Moms know all about protecting, surrounding, instructing, teaching, counseling, watching, & loving kids. When I say “know,” I’m speaking of experiential knowledge. I’m being honest here, so y’all need to be honest as well and admit that experience does not equal omniscience, and it doesn’t necessarily make one wise.
Overestimating our knowledge and wisdom, we can get ourselves into quite a fix trying to take on jobs that are not meant for us. This is especially true when it’s a job meant for God.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:30:
“For My yoke is easy & My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:30 (NIV)
“I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:30 (MSG)
More often than not, God is calling us to hide & trust as David does in Psalm 32. I think we moms tend to have a bit of a problem with this. For me, my issue with hiding & trusting really reared it’s ugly head when I went from the outside-the-home life of an overachieving student, then married career woman, to the inside-the-home life of wife & mom. I felt hidden, and I didn’t like it, not one bit.
Called to Hide
I seriously doubt that “hiding & trusting” has ever been used in a social media bio!
Hiding sounds cowardly & weak.
Trusting sounds irresponsible & lazy.
I think all of us would prefer to be known as brave, bold, & strong, trustworthy, dependable, & hardworking. Yet, here’s where, if we’re willing, we can admit to ourselves & confess to God that we care (too much) about our reputations and not (enough) about God’s.
Don’t try to wiggle (or wriggle?) out of this. I’m saying this for our own good. I can hear my justifications now: “We represent God, right? We’re His ambassadors — II Corinthians 5 says so. I mean, we may be ‘the only Jesus someone ever sees,’ ‘the only Bible someone ever reads,’ so we need that brave, bold, strong, trustworthy, dependable, hardworking reputation. They’ll say, ‘Look at Alicia! She’s so strong. I can always depend on her. If only I could be brave & bold like she is. You can really trust that she’ll work hard, whatever she does.'”
Being honest again: I would love to hear “them” say that, whoever they are!!! Also, having a reputation for boldness & dependability & all the rest of that list is not wrong… in itself. Obedience to Jesus will lead me to walk righteously. As I walk righteously, I am to trust Him with my reputation & everything else. But I know I have a tendency to fall for my own justifications. I’ve gotten too good at sprinkling truth in with the lies. You know who else does that? Satan.
Mixing Truth with Lies -> Deception
“Then the devil took Him (Jesus) to the holy city and had Him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6‘If You are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw Yourself down. For it is written:
“He will command His angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11,12).’7Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”‘ (Deuteronomy 6:16).”
Matthew 4:5-7 (NIV)
You can see that Satan quoted from Psalm 91 in this attempt to tempt Jesus. Let’s compare what he said here to what is written in Psalms.
| “He will command His angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone” (Matthew 4:6). | “For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:11-12). |
The devil omitted the latter part of v. 11, “to guard you in all your ways.” Guarding has to do with protection from outside enemies, not protection from self-inflicted trouble like throwing yourself off a building!
Jesus responded to the devil’s misquoted Scripture with Scripture, quoting the first part of Deuteronomy 6:16.
“Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.”
Deuteronomy 6:16 (NIV)
What happened at Massah?
To find out, we’ll visit Exodus 17.
“The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2So they quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’
Moses replied, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?’
3But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, ‘Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?’
4Then Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.’
5The Lord answered Moses, ‘Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.’ So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7And he called the place Massah [testing] and Meribah [quarreling] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?'”
Exodus 17:1-7 (NIV)
In the apparently water-less wilderness, the Israelite people were seeing God, Moses, and their situation with the wrong perspective. Moses was struggling with his perspective as well, worrying that his loss of reputation with the Israelites might lead to them stoning him! God was the only One with the right perspective, the only One who could provide for their needs and restore Moses’ authority with the people.
When Satan was trying to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, his way of seeing things was warped by his own evil, while Jesus’ perspective was eternal, heavenly, godly, Scripturally-sound, right & true.
We need Jesus’ perspective! We need to see how He sees. When our perspectives are wrong, we stop trusting God and start trying to fend for ourselves. Our perspectives, much like the Israelites’ in the wilderness, are often warped by our own sin and evil desires.
“…but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”
James 1:14-15 (NIV)
Now would be the ideal time to return to Psalm 32.
Back to Psalm 32
“Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2Blessed is the one
whose sin the Lord does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.3When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night
Your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer. [Selah]5Then I acknowledged my sin to You
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, ‘I will confess
my transgressions to the Lord.’”
And You forgave
the guilt of my sin.6Therefore let all the faithful pray to You
while You may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7You are my hiding place;
You will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.8I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
10Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the Lord’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in Him.11Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous;
Psalm 32 (NIV)
sing, all you who are upright in heart!”
To All the Moms I’ve Loved Before
Because I love you, fellow mom & sister-in-Christ, I urge you to acknowledge your sin — no covering up! Say with David, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” then confess them, and God will forgive your sin & guilt.
Acknowledgement and confession of our sin is where we start to get a right perspective. If no particular sins have surfaced in your mind & heart as you’ve read this, pray to God:
“But who can discern their own errors?
Psalm 19:12-13 (NIV)
Forgive my hidden faults.
13Keep Your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.”
“Search me, God, and know my heart;
Psalm 139:23-24 (NIV)
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.”
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t like feeling hidden at home for the decade (yes, decade) I had babies & toddlers under my care, under my roof, all up in my business, dealing with their business, day & night, night & day, day in & day out… you get it! 😉
I was a slow learner in this, but I finally noticed Colossians 3:3 (shout out to my pastor, Bro. J, & his expository Colossians sermons!), and by the grace of God & the work of the Holy Spirit, I realized the hidden life is the best life!!!
“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:3 (NIV)
My life is hidden with Christ. It’s not about me anymore! I’m free to let it all be about Him.
Oh, I still struggle. As Paul says,
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)
I’m happy to hide & trust and let God do the protecting, surrounding, instructing, teaching, counseling, watching, & loving. Whatever I do from now on, whether it’s behind the scenes or in the spotlight, I am to do hidden in Him. It’s a simple shift in perspective with major impact.
Prayer
Father God,
Thank You for Your Word, especially the words of Psalm 32. Truly, truly, “the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered,” “the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit” is blessed!
May we not take Your great forgiveness in Christ for granted today. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
May we be quick to confess our sins, Lord, so that we are not deceived into believing lies. Instead, may our perspectives be like Christ’s — seeing You, ourselves, our lives, others, & this world as You do.
Lord, be our Hiding Place. Our lives are not about us anymore, and there is so much freedom in that! Instruct, teach, & counsel us about what it means to live “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).
Help us to resist every urge to do jobs that are meant for You alone. Drown out the cries of the world that tell us we must make a name for ourselves and achieve earthly glory if we are to be happy & fulfilled & successful. Remind us as often as we need it that merely by trusting You we are surrounded by Your unfailing love! There is nothing better than that.
We love You. Thank You for first loving us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.