The book and the movie are about the true story of how the Ten Boom family quietly sheltered Jews in their small house until Nazis discovered the ''hiding place.'' This is the remarkable true story of Corrie’s and her sister Betsie's endurance of the death camp, and of their sure hope that God alone is the true hiding place.
Many of us have a hiding place. That is, when certain things happen to us, many of us like to hide out somewhere!
From the time we are small children, we are familiar with HIDING PLACES that we feel safe in during certain times.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger had a cat named Buff that was afraid of storms. When a storm came it would hide underneath their bed.
WHERE DO YOU HIDE WHEN THE STORMS COME INTO YOUR LIFE?
Illus: A mother was on the telephone and her children were acting up so that she could hardly hear what the other person was saying. The person on the other end of the conversation said it sounded like the children were playing with sledge hammers and machines guns.
• Finally, the lady said, “Would you please excuse me for a minute, I need to take care of a problem here?”
• In a few minutes it became total silent. Then she said, "Okay, I’m back."
• The other party said, "But it’s so quiet! You must have complete control over those children!”
• She said, "Not really; I’m now in the closet."
When trouble comes, it is good to have a place to hide.
Illus: In certain parts of the country, when they build homes they include a STORM CELLAR. Some prefer to call these STORM CELLARS, “SAFE ROOMS”.
Builders know that a dry-walled, 2x4-framed room is no match for a “Force 5” tornado or a “Category 5” hurricane that can pack winds up to 200 mph -- enough to blow a well-built house off its foundation.
Most people never think of a STORM CELLAR until one day they are confronted with a major storm and all of a sudden the STORM CELLAR becomes the most important thing in their life. They are asking themselves, “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?” Their very life can depend on such a place!
The same thing applies in the SPIRITUAL WORLD. We do not think of having a SAFE PLACE TO HIDE, until the storms of life blow into our lives with great fury, and then it becomes the most important thing in our life.
Many Christians have found out that when the storms of life blow their way; GOD IS OUR HIDING PLACE! Everyone needs a HIDING PLACE!
Jesus Himself felt the need to have a hiding place. Look at Mark 1:35, we read, "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."
Notice that the Lord’s hiding place was to GET AWAY FROM PEOPLE. It is nice to be around people, but too much of anything is not good. And there are times in our life when we need to get alone with the Lord Jesus.
The Lord felt the need to be alone with God the Father.
Look at Luke 6:12, we read, “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”
Have you ever spent the whole night in prayer? If the Lord felt the need to have a hiding place, and to be alone with God, how much more should we feel the same need?
WHAT IS A HIDING PLACE?
• A hiding place is a place where we can feel safe from impending danger
• A hiding place is where we can get away from whatever troubles us
• A hiding place is where no one knows just where we are and what we are feeling but God
WHERE IS YOUR HIDING PLACE? I want to show you several things about a hiding place. We see that some are -
I. HIDING FROM GOD
Look at Gen. 3:9, we read, “And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, WHERE ART THOU?”
The very first thing that happened after the news reached heaven of the fall of man, was that God came straight down to seek out the lost. As He walked through the garden in the cool of the day, He called out, “Adam! Adam! Where art thou?”
I do not believe it was the sharp angry voice that said, “Adam, Where art thou?” It was the voice of grace, of mercy, and of love.
Adam should have been seeking God because he was the transgressor. Adam is the one that had fallen into sin, and he should have been the one that ought to have gone up and down Eden crying, “My God! my God! where art Thou?”
However, it was God walking through Eden, crying out, “Adam, where art thou?”
WHY DID ADAM HIDE FROM GOD? After he sinned, it was probably fear that caused him to hide in the bushes. Fear definitely affects our behavior!
Illus: A taxi passenger tapped the driver on the shoulder to ask him a question. The driver screamed, lost control of the car, nearly hit a bus, went up on the sidewalk and stopped only centimeters from a store shop window.
• For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver said, "Oh man, you scared the daylights out of me!"
• The passenger apologized and said, "I didn't realize that a little tap would scare you so much."
• The driver replied, "Sorry, it's not really your fault. Today is my first day as a cab driver – you see, I've been driving a hearse for the last 25 years."
It was God who came seeking Adam after he sinned, crying out, “Adam … where art thou?”
I want to ask that same question to everyone here today. WHERE ARE YOU?
• It does not matter where you are in the sight of your friends.
• It does not matter where you are in the sight of the community in which you live.
As important as these things may be, it is of extreme importance to know where you are in the sight of God.
Many today are trying to HIDE FROM GOD! You may think that your life is hid and that God does not know anything about you. But He knows everything about you. His eyes have been upon us from the time we are conceived and will be upon us throughout eternity.
We live in a world that has consciously made the decision to run FROM God rather than to run TO Him.
Didn’t God know where Adam was? Of course He did; He is Omniscient. That means He knows all things. We are free moral agents and God gave Adam a chance to try to hide or not to hide!
According to the Word of God, there is no place you and I can hide from God.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger, when he was a teenager, attended a youth camp. Like most youth camps they had some very strict rules concerning keeping the boys away from the girls for obvious reasons. They had the boy’s cabins on one side of the campground and the girl’s cabins on the other. He met this young lady that caught his attention. He did not get to spend much time courting her because of the strict rules, so the last night of the camp he decided he was going to visit on her side of the campground.
Like an apache Indian, he walked through some woods and hid in the weeds to go to her side. He thought he was doing really well until he heard this voice say, “I see you!” He took off running into some high weeds and was lying there on the ground waiting for things to settle down! After some time, a flashlight popped on and a voice said, “Gotcha!”
It does not matter how sneaky we may think we are, one day we are going to stand before the Lord Jesus and He is going to say “Gotcha!” People are going to discover that there is nothing they have ever done that they have gotten away with.
• Teenagers that are doing things their parents have no idea they are doing are going to hear, “Gotcha!”.
• Business people that have cheated folks out of their hard-earned money are going to hear, “Gotcha!”
• People who are cheating on their spouse and their spouse has no idea what they are doing are going to hear, “Gotcha!”
There is no place where anyone can hide from God! NO PLACE!
In Rev. 20:12-13, we read, “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”
Many times we have broken the law by speeding and got away with it, but no one can break the laws of God and not get caught. You can not run far enough or fast enough that He cannot find you.
David said, “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.” Psa. 139:8
Many today foolishly think that they are HIDING FROM GOD!
However, the smart crowd is-
II. HIDING IN GOD
In Psa. 32:7a, we read, “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble.”
Illus: Joe Louis was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 until he retired in 1949.
In 1946 Louis prepared to defend his title against a skilled fighter named Billy Conn. Louis was warned to watch out for Conn's great speed and his tactic of darting in to attack and then moving quickly out of his opponent's range.
In a famous display of confidence, Louis replied, "He can run, but he can't hide." - Today in the Word, July 6, 1993.
History tells us it was a great fight between two great fighters. Billy Conn was winning all twelve rounds when Louis got a good right hook to Conn’s jaw. It staggered him and Louis was aggressive and once he got an opponent hurt he was a pro at moving in and finishing his opponent off! After Conn got hit in the 12th round, Joe Louis knocked him out for the full count.
Conn later jokingly said to Louis, "Why couldn't you let me hold the title for a year or so?", to which the Brown Bomber responded, "You had the title for twelve rounds and you couldn't hold on to it."
Joe Louis was right, HE COULD RUN BUT HE COULD NOT HIDE!
This might be true for this fighter, but when trouble comes we can run to God and we can HIDE!
We can all be thankful that we have a place where we can hide when trouble comes.
Illus: A telemarketer called a home one day, and a small voice whispered, "Hello?"
• "Hello! What's your name?"
• Still whispering, the voice said, "Jimmy."
• "How old are you, Jimmy?"
• "I'm four."
• "Good, Is your mother home?"
• "Yes, but she's busy."
• "Okay, is your father home?"
• "He's busy too."
• "I see, who else is there?"
• "The police."
• "The police? May I speak with one of them?"
• "They're busy."
• "Any other grown-ups there?"
• "The firemen."
• "May I speak with a fireman, please?"
• "They're all busy."
• "Jimmy, all those people in your house, and I can't talk with any of them? What are they doing?"
• "Looking for me," whispered Jimmy.
(The Jokesmith, quoted in Bits & Pieces, April 1, 1993, pp. 3-4)
The Psalmist said that God was his hiding place. In other words, when the storms of life blew into his life, he had a SAFE PLACE TO HIDE!
If there’s one thing that David knew well, it was the art of finding a good hiding place.
• As a member of Saul’s court, David found himself on the run, at times, because of this insanely jealous king.
• Once on the throne of Israel, David would time and again, retreat to safety from his enemies.
He knew what it was to hide in the CAVES of ADULLAM, but He knew the best place to hide was in the Lord.
Every one of us faces those times in our life when we are forced to seek shelter; a place of refuge from physical disasters and spiritual storms as well.
As nice as it is to have a HIDING PLACE, we need to make sure it is a SAFE HIDING PLACE.
Illus: When Hurricane Katrina plowed through Louisiana and Alabama, thousands fled the storm to take refuge in the Louisiana Superdome. For days, national news covered the scene as the place of shelter mutated into an all out fight for survival. Later, thousands left the stadium convinced their chances of survival would be better in the storm than in the shelter.
I want to ask you a question. “WHERE WOULD YOU GO IF A CATEGORY #5 HURRICANE WAS COMING IN YOUR DIRECTION?” It is certain that if you did not have a safe place to hide, you would be in serious trouble!
We also need a hiding place in spiritual matters. I can assure you that some day A STORM IS GOING TO COME INTO YOUR LIFE! If you do not have a place to hide you are going to be in serious trouble.
When you choose to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life, you are saying in effect, “I am no longer going to try to hide from God, I choose to hide in Him.”
The Psalmist said, “I have a place to go when the storms of life blow in my direction; THOU ART MY HIDING PLACE!”
• We can see why many people turn to drugs and alcohol they have no HIDING PLACE TO TURN TO WHEN TROUBLE COMES THEIR WAY.
• We can see why many young people turn to a promiscuous life because they are trying to find someone to embrace them because they have no HIDING PLACE.
Conclusion:
Everyone is either . . .
I. HIDING FROM GOD
II. HIDING IN GOD
