only in secret places
my two little girls are fired up about reading right now. daily now they’re reading aloud to the cat, tucking away in blankets with first & second readers, & have started a book club beneath the dining room table called, “the secret place.”
yesterday i was fighting a migraine for most of the day. these are rare occurrences for me now since i’ve gotten to the root of them (thoughts). i was fairly certain this one was just hormonal, but then when josh asked at the end of the day if there was anything in particular i’d been mulling over, why yes, there it was : a perplexing social/relational situation that tangled up my heart & thoughts, which is the origin of 99% of my migraines these days.
i’d been able to be present with the kids for most of the day, but by late afternoon i retreated, as i do in these times, to our second-story bedroom, gazing out the window through the swaying norwegian pines, setting sun filtering through, because God always meets me there. usually in that place of untangling thoughts i only need silence, but yesterday i needed someone else to re-direct my gaze. tozer came to my rescue with a sermon on psalm 91, suitably titled, “The Secret Place of the Most High”.
every version of the 91st psalm i’ve read before uses the word “shelter” instead of “secret place”, but this new (old, K/NKJV) reading spoke my heart language :
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”Psalm 91:1-2
tozer talks about the instantaneous fellowship we find among other rare & peculiar souls who dwell in the secret place. i often imagine the gerasene demoniac being among those few, one of the first of the saints i hope to meet when i cross over into glory! if you read the gospel of mark in one sitting you’ll notice : both before & after this account almost every single person is told by Jesus, “tell no one.” and then, the one person who says to Him, “stay with me! i just want to be with you!” this is the one to whom Jesus says, “go…tell everyone what i’ve done for you!”
just wanting to be with Jesus, intimacy with Him, dwelling in the secret place—that’s the key to evangelistic vigor! the outward bloom of personal testimony starts first in the dark hidden quiet like a seed. this is where He binds up our broken hearts & heals all our diseases. He pulls us out from the pit, heals our memories, all of our trauma, as we sit with Him in the quiet of the morning or the fading light of day, our wonderful counselor.
do you dwell in the secret place of the Most High? has your encounter brought healing, wholeness, transformation? then to you He says, “go! tell everyone what the Lord has done for you!”
