The Secret Place

THE SECRET PLACE

Psalm 91:1-3

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. [2] I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. [3] Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

There is something about hearing the word "secret" that perks up the ears of the most casual listener, and make him or her more desirous of listening than they were before.

There is something intriguing about being the only other person in the whole wide world to know the details about a certain person or situation that is hard for most of us to resist.

Benjamin Franklin once said these words:

"Three may keep a secret it two of them are dead."

The Duke of Wellington is best remembered as the general who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. During his earlier service in India, Wellington was in charge of negotiations after the battle of Assaye. The emissary of an Indian ruler, anxious to know what territories would be ceded to his master, tried in various ways to get the information. Finally, he offered Wellingtron a large sum of money. "Can you keep a secret?" asked Wellington. "Yes, indeed," the man said eagerly. "So can I," replied Wellington.

Today in the Word, July, 1990, p. 35.

We realize that we are living in tremendously challenging times, and with the recent events, there is an element of fear and concern that has gripped the lives of millions of Americans.

Life just wasn’t supposed to get this difficult as we moved into the 21st century.

In America, we had the idea that if the world had questions, we had about every answer there was to have, but we have also failed to remember that God was the one who prospered us in the first place.

Now, we know that as we are out living our daily lives, that the

I. WHAT IS THE SECRET PLACE?

II. HOW DO WE DWELL THERE?

III. WHAT IS THE SECRET PLACE LIKE?

people we are talking to are looking for some answers, and are living with fears that is sending shock waves through our economy, and is affecting the airline industry tremendously.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington exacerbated a situation that was already getting worse, said David Wyss, the chief economist at Standard & Poor’s. In the past week alone, companies have announced more than 100,000 layoffs.

’’People are concerned about getting killed and they’re concerned about getting fired,’’ Wyss said. ’’That makes it awfully hard to spend money.’’

Hardest hit have been airlines and companies dependent on tourism, as Americans decided to stay close to home in the wake of the hijackings. That continued to be the case yesterday.

Delta Air Lines said it would cut up to 13,000 jobs, or 16 percent of its work force, and cut back on its scheduled flights. The third-largest US airline joined every major domestic air carrier except Southwest Airlines in cutting jobs and capacity in the wake of the attacks.

Delta chief executive Leo Mullin said the airline’s ’’load factors,’’ or the proportion of seats occupied on its flights, have been hovering in the low 30 percent range this week. Delta is carrying about 140,000 passengers per day, Mullin said, down from a pre-attacks average of 300,000.

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/270/business/Another_25_000_jobs_cut_nationwide+.shtml

We must realize as Christians that God’s word has not changed in it’s meaning or relevance in these thousands of years!

He is still the same God today that he was when the writer of this Psalm penned the words, "he that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty"

There is still a secret place, and there is still a peace in the midst of the storm that we can know as children of God, that is beyond human understanding or knowledge.

First of all tonight, we want to look at this question:

I. WHAT IS THE SECRET PLACE?

The first thought that may come to our mind when we talk about a "secret place" may have to do with the fact that there were many times that David was hiding from King Saul as Saul was continually making attempts for his life.

David knew what it was to be on the run as a fugitive not from "justice" but from a jealous and unGodly king.

As the jealousy of King Saul continued to burn hotter, and hotter, David had to continually be on the move, or risk his life being taken.

No doubt there were many places that David had designated as "secret places" deep in the wilderness areas and mountains where he could go and feel some sense of protection from the fury of Saul.