HIDDEN

 It's one of the most frequently memorized Bible verses:

Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11)

That verse sometimes came to mind as I look out the window and watch the local squirrels hurriedly dig a hole and drop in a just-acquired walnut. Often, when weeding, I find these “squirreled away” treasures. Some were quite dried out and dead, although a few had a tiny stem starting to poke out. A future walnut tree. But without the right conditions (good soil, water, light), most would never produce a tree.

When this psalm was written, the “Word” referred to the Torah or the “Law,” what we call the “Pentateuch.” That's the first section of today's Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), the scriptures of the psalmist's time. Today it means the Bible's entirety: Old Testament history, poetry, prophecy and the “second half” (“New Testament”) with truths revealed through Jesus Christ's life and teachings. It's not a handbook given new employees! It's the ages-old counsel God provided for all humans.

The word translated “hid,” is from the Hebrew tsaphan, meaning to treasure, hoard, or cover. It's more than our English-language idea of “hiding” something from view. It's more like weaving golden strands of God's pure and loving standards into the fabric for everyday life. Those strands are heavenly truth to teach, reprove, correct and provide training in God's righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

Back to squirrels. They're not the only ones who hoard. Add in: chipmunks, hamsters, rats, mice, woodpeckers, corvids (crow family), moles, fire ants and fiddle crabs! And yes, humans. I've been inside the living quarters of hoarders. It is utterly sad that they can't let go of “things.” As I say this, my finger is pointed back at myself as I pursue “paring down piles” in my own home.

This whole idea of “stuff” (or personal treasures) takes me to the biographies of godly people like Corrie ten Boom. When arrested by the Nazis in World War 2, she was able to hide under her clothing a small copy of the Bible. Miraculously, during her concentration camp imprisonment, she was able to keep it from being discovered. At night, she'd bring it out in the filthy prisoner dorm (see one at this site: corrie ten boom prison camp - Search Images) and share with these hopeless women about Jesus and her hope in Him.

I hope you looked at that picture. Consider your despair if you'd been one of the cold, starving prisoners crammed into lice-infested, stacked bunks—all victims of a dark life outlook based on greed and political power. Then, look to Jesus. And scriptures.

The book about Corrie ten Boom's nightmare Nazi imprisonment (later a movie of the same name) was called “The Hiding Place,” referring to a hidden room in her home where she sheltered refugees before her own arrest. It also alludes to the declaration of David, himself a refugee from King Saul's murderous hunt for him, referred in Psalm 32:7:

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

“Selah” is a Hebrew word loosely translated, “Stop and think about it.” Thus I'll end: Selah!

Making 'Psense' of Psalms--Psalm 32: Hidden Places

God's "good" hiding places include the winter soil for
flower bulbs. These are daffodils, ready for spring.

Part of an ongoing series on selected psalms.
“The Hiding Place,” Corrie ten Boom’s World War 2 account of hiding Jews and punishment in a notorious concentration camp, gripped me when published in the early 1970s. I knew “hiding place” referred to the secret compartment built into her bedroom to protect refugee Jews. I also knew the phrase carried a double meaning from Psalms, for God’s protection.

When “The Hiding Place” was released, I was in my twenties and reading the Psalms with fresh spiritual eyes. When I came across the “hiding place” phrase in Psalm 32:7, I marked it: “Thou art a hiding place for me; thou preserveth me from trouble; thou dost encompass me with deliverance” (32:7). Later, re-reading Corrie’s book, I realized it quoted another “hiding place” passage right after Corrie’s family was arrested and detained at the local police station. The night before her family was split up to go to different prisons, a group had gathered around Corrie’s aged father for evening prayers. She recalled: “His blue eyes seemed to be seeing beyond the locked crowded room, beyond Haarlem, beyond earth itself, as he quoted from memory: ‘Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word….Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe…’” (The Hiding Place, Chosen Books, 1971, p. 126).

Corrie’s father had quoted from Psalm 119 (starting at verse 114), but both that verse and Psalm 32:7 used the same Hebrew word (sether) for “hiding place.”  In both places, “hiding place” is a metaphor for God’s loving presence, even when we face unspeakably difficult circumstances.

 

TWO ‘HIDDEN’ THINGS

 Psalm 32 deals with two types of “hidden” things. One is hidden sins. Psalm 51 tells how David confessed his hidden sins of adultery and conspiracy to murder. Psalm 32 also refers to that incident, but was written later, probably to warn and teach others about falling into hidden sin. Psalm 32 reveals how hiding sin damaged David’s health. He describes his bones wasting away, groaning all through the day, a sense of heaviness, and sapped strength. The second “hidden” subject, after confession of sin, is God’s love and protection, described as our “hiding place.”  The psalm also speaks of spiritual teachings that are hidden from the hard hearts of the unsaved.

HIDDEN AND HIDEOUS

Both Psalms 1 and 32 open with the word “blessed.” The Amplified version, trying to catch the energy of the original Hebrew (‘esher), translates this “happy, fortunate, to be envied.” Psalm 1’s “blessed” person completely followed God. Psalm 32’s “blessed” person realizes he has fallen from God’s perfect path, but knows the blessing of forgiveness after confession. Hebrew poetry is characterized by parallel thoughts, and Psalm 32 begins with an excellent example as David seems to rake the Hebrew language for synonyms for the hideousness of sin.
            *Transgression (v. 1), from the Hebrew peshah, a “going away,” “departure,” or “rebellion” against God.
            *Sin (v. 1), from the Hebrew chattath, a falling-short of a mark, like an archer failing to hit his target. In this case, sin is “falling short” of God’s law.
            *Iniquity (v. 2), from Hebrew hawon, something corrupted, twisted, crooked—which we become in twisting away from God to sinful choices.
            Next, the psalmist gives three divine responses to sin.
            *Forgiven—literally, to have our sin burden lifted off, like Pilgrim losing his burden at the cross in John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.”
            *Covered—a term picturing the Old Testament sacrificial system. A priest would carry blood from a sacrificed animal and sprinkle the “mercy seat” or cover of the ark, which contained the law the people had broken. The blood symbolized shielding the sinner from God’s judgment. Christ’s death fulfilled that ritual, once and for all.
            *Not counted against him—like a divine bookkeeping term.  God takes the sins recorded in our life’s ledger book, removes them and put them in Christ’s ledger book. He died for them, and His righteousness was credited to our ledger. In Romans 4, the apostle Paul quoted these verses and went to great lengths to explain “justification by faith.”

GOD’S HIDING PLACE

The word selah, which denotes a musical pause to “think about this,” separates each section of this psalm. First David defined sin and revealed how it wrecked his health. Selah, he wrote, as though urging people not to go down similar paths. Then David recounts his confession and the relief of getting what was dark and hidden out in the open. “You forgave the guilt of my sin,” he said, followed by selah (v. 5).

Next comes an admonition to keep accounts clear with God and not wait for the fearsome floods of chastening (“when the mighty waters rise,” v. 6). Earlier, he was hiding from God.  Now forgiven, he hides in God, his “hiding place.” David knew well how God led him to “hiding places” in the rocky wastelands during the dozen years he hid from Saul’s murderous campaigns. That was worth a big selah.

NOT-SO-HIDDEN COUNSEL

The psalm ends with Proverbs-like counsel. Verse 8 spoke to me during a scary time of change when I was a young adult. I’d decided to leave my newspaper reporter’s job with its steady paycheck for “mission service” a thousand miles away, and “support” for income. To help me decide, I’d flown to the mission headquarters to talk with people there. I had thought much about Psalm 32:8, now marked in red in my Bible: “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” On the flight back, as I looked out on clouds and land, I had an inexplicable sense of God guiding me with His all-seeing wisdom.

The next verse was my challenge: to not be like a mule that had to be pulled into submission.  Lyrics of an old hymn kept coming to me: “Have thine own way, Lord…I am waiting, yielded and still.” How well these summarize the message of Psalm 32. When we quit hiding from God, we can rest in God’s hiding place. There is no better place to be.  And though it’s not written in David’s text, this is another place where a selah would be very appropriate!

 

Next time: Psalm 34