Finding and Dwelling in the Secret place
by Patricia Lake
In this verse (as in so many others) we see, so ably expressed, the heart of David. More than anything else in all the world he loved the Lord. His focus and fascination with the Lord are contagious, and cause a yearning in the believer’s heart to aspire to love the Lord in the same way.
No wonder, in the sovereignty of God, Jesus the Messiah was to be born of David’s line! There was a purity in his heart’s desire and love for the Lord which drew God the Father to him, despite his well-documented faults and failings.
He had found the secret place of the Most High. He was alluding to being in the presence of the Lord (not only in the physical place of the temple), and it is to that same place that we are all beckoned in Psalm 91:1, ‘He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty’.
Reading around the rest of the text in today’s psalm, we discover that the circumstances of David’s life caused his soul to be in anguish and distress. His enemies were pursuing him and he was feeling overwhelmed. There was a price to be paid to enter the secret place, but there the highest joy was found.
Just because he had been anointed king didn’t mean that everything was going to be easy; far from it. The way of life passes through the lion’s den, as Daniel discovered; and through the fiery furnace, as Daniel’s three friends also discovered.
It passed through a lowly manger and the garden of Gethsemane for the King of kings, ultimately leading to the cross before resurrection life could be accessed. The way of life was narrow, Jesus warned, but with every step the closeness of the Saviour is revealed.
David’s desire to look upon the beauty of the Lord would cost him, but the ultimate joy was worth it.
Are we willing to pay the price? Are we willing to pass the test which comes to each of us? Nobody likes tests, but they are a necessary part of life to get to our desired haven. So, wherever your path is taking you, the answer is looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. |
Focussing on the Saviour is the only safe way. In His holy presence, in the courts of the Lord, where we are close to His throne, that’s where we too can gaze on His beauty and worship.
Patricia Lake is now Ellel’s Representative in Curacao, in the Dutch West Indies, where she is now living, having served with Ellel Ministries as Peter Horrobin’s Secretary for almost 20 years. Prior to that she was in ministry in her local Pentecostal church in Birmingham, before feeling the call of God to serve in the healing and deliverance ministry at Ellel Grange in the northwest of England.
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