Where Are You Hiding?

 

"O safe to the Rock that is higher than I,

My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;

So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine, would I be;

Thou blest 'Rock of Ages,' I'm hiding in Thee.'

 

I so enjoy being introduced to hymns I haven't heard before. I'm reading through "How Sweet the Sound," stories and grace-filled reflections on beloved hymns by George Beverly Shea.Those words are the first verse in the hymn "Hiding in Thee."

Shea tells how the author of "Hiding in Thee," Rev. William O. Cushing, 1823-1902, visited his mother's family in Canada. She was twelve years old. She played the piano, accompanying him as he was rehearsing. She received a note from him thanking her for her beautiful piano playing.

The chorus says it all! 

"Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee, 

Thou blest 'Rock of Ages.'

 I'm hiding in Thee."

 

I'm not ashamed that I hide in my God. There is no safer place to be in these turbulent times than resting in the Everlasting Arms of God. Deuteronomy 33:26-28 

 

 

"My weakness--my helplessness--my sense of inferiority has turned out to be my greatest strength."

Harold Russell

 

The world tells me how weak I am to rely on God. I would have to tell the world, "How weak you are to deny God." I can name hundreds of strong and capable people who are far from weak. And history tells of thousands and thousands more. Believing in and trusting God is far from weak. There is so much evidence of it's truth, I wonder how anyone can decide not to believe it.

Shea says "just repeating the words over and over again [of this great hymn] always brings spiritual uplift . . . What a perfect hiding place God offers us! He's not there just to provide a temporary escape--He fills us with His love and power so that we can go out to face our life each day. He gives us the strength and courage we need to continue down the path that He wants us to follow. God is a mighty Rock, and He never leaves us."

 

Cushing wrote "Hiding in Thee" after he lost his voice. He was no longer able to preach, but continued his ministry with the gift of songwriting. Cushing and Ira Sankey, who wrote the music for "Hiding in Thee" also wrote and composed "Under His Wings" another beautiful hymn with a similar theme.

"How shall we rest in God? By giving ourselves wholly to him. If you give yourself by halves, you cannot find full rest; there will ever be a lurking disquiet in that half that is withheld. Martyrs, confessors, and saints have tasted this rest, and 'counted themselves happy in that they endured.' A countless host of God's faithful servants have drunk deeply of it under the daily burden of a weary life--dull, commonplace, painful, or desolate. All that God has been to them he is ready to be to you. The heart once fairly given to God, with a clear conscience, a fitting rule of life, and a steadfast purpose of obedience, you will find a wonderful sense of rest coming over you."

Jean Nicolas Grou, 1731-1803 

 

 

Charles Spurgeon said: "Show the world your God is worth ten thousand worlds to you. Show the materially rich just how rich you are in your poverty when the Lord God is your helper. Show strong men just how strong you are in your weakness when 'underneath are the everlasting arms." 

Continuing, Spurgeon said: "A believer cannot fall so deep into distress and affliction that the covenant grace of our ever-faithful God will be unable to encircle him . . . he cannot fall so low as to be beyond the reach of 'the everlasting arms'."

 

Yes, I will continue to hide in my God as He knows all and has authority over all. His plan is being worked out day-by-day. If you don't believe then  you've have never studied His Word, for the proof of all He's done is proven all the time. It's not only proven by Christians, but by Scientists, Atheists and Agnostics. There is no doubt that He is true.

 

So hide yourself in God. Rest in His Everlasting Arms. Let Him be your refuge. All you have to do is call and He's there.

 

 

 You can hear "Hiding in Thee" on these links:

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNZ5VDVX0Qo

   Haven of Rest Quartet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGRPcT-W6-I  

  George Beverly Shea