Psalm 32:7

Seek Refuge in God, Our Hiding Place

Psalm 32:7

You are a hiding place for me;
From distress you deliver me;
With shouts of rescue, you surround me.

In The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, the author details the physical hiding place that her family used to hide Jews from the Nazis at great personal cost. A hiding place like this is meant to be a safe refuge from enemies without. However, what happens if the enemy is within? Is there a hiding place that can keep one safe from such a threat?

The psalmist of Psalm 32 faced such a predicament. Beset by unconfessed sin, his inner being was worn out from the relentless roaring inv. 3. John Wesley, in his Notes on The Whole Bible (https: www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes), understood this as the groaning of a “horrified conscience”. However, when the psalmist confessed his sin to God in v. 5, he experienced forgiveness and deliverance. From prior sin-soaked silence, the psalmist now erupts in praise in v.7, telling God that “You are a hiding place for me.” Using Hebrew wordplay in the parallel colon, the psalmist emphatically proclaims that “from distress (tsar) you deliver (natsar) me.” In this lament psalm, there is no mention of enemies except for the psalmist’s own sins. The hiding place that the psalmist needed was from the distress of his own sin and its consequences.

Like the psalmist, my greatest threat has been the enemy within—my sin. Since making the decision to foster another child, I have found myself fearful. I was fearful that I would sin against God and this precious child when I react in angry impatience. Children who come from hard places come with deep hurts that often manifest as difficult behaviour. Many a time I have over-reacted to the challenging behavior of my first foster child, lashing out in an outsized fury that left me despondent. Through this psalm, God assured me that he was and is my reliable hiding place. When I sin, and I will, I can nonetheless take refuge in the forgiveness and faithful love (v. 10) that he will extend to me. He will deliver me and mine from the effects of my failure with glad shouts of rescue.

Do you fear the enemy within? Are you distressed by your sin? Take heart and take refuge in God, your hiding place. Do not dwell any longer in sin-bound silence. Confess your sins to God, and you too will experience his deliverance from your distress.

Tay Li Ping (M,Div., Yr 3)