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Let’s explore our ability to dwell in the Secret Place from another perspective. Hebrews 4:15 and 16 tells us,

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

The reason why we can dwell in safety, in the secret place, is because Jesus has given us the keys to it.  He suffered the same things we suffer – remember the passage from the Old Testament lesson in Isaiah, which said “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;” 53:4. And, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” vs. 6. He paid the full price, then passed through the heavens so that He could be there to give the mercy we never deserved, and the grace to help in time of need. Our heavenly Father is not inaccessible, or aloof from us. On the contrary, He not only partook of the punishment for our guilt, He paid the full ransom for our safety and salvation, paving the way to the secret place for us so that we could dwell with Him in it. He only asks that we place our trust in Him, also a recurring theme throughout Psalm 91. He admonishes us to hold fast our confession of faith – the words of our mouth, which are the outward demonstration of what is in the heart. The Father is inviting us to dwell with Him in this place where He is. Jesus was cut off from the land of the living so that we would not be! He was bruised, He was put to grief, He was afflicted, smitten, wounded, chastised with stripes upon His back, taking on Himself that which we deserved, so that we could freely enter into the fellowship of His Kingdom at His bidding, and dwell in complete safety and security.  We simply cry out to Him in trouble and He is there, allowing us to see the destruction of the wicked that does not touch us.  Every day brings accounts of this; times when we were in situations where perhaps we should have been seriously injured, or even killed. Times when somehow miraculously we were spared, or were given a divine intervention, or shown extraordinary mercy.  Times when our enemy was diverted or even destroyed while we stood helplessly by, awestruck and dumbfounded. Times when we knew our home was spared attack or destruction, inexplicably.

But what about those times when you feel you are on the receiving end of every destructive force, every attack, every form of retribution your enemy could visit upon you? What about those times when you feel God has certainly abandoned you, or given you the opposite of what you have asked for? This is when the secret place is your most formidable shield, because it is in these times when it is imperative that you seek out that secret place of the most high. This is the time to tarry, to persevere, and to become immoveable from that place of trust and safety – when it is the most irrational thing you’ll ever do!  When your heart is lying in a million pieces, even in the most sorrowful of your days; the time you are in physical pain, the time when you put a beloved one in the ground.  The time when you don’t have a cent to call your own, the time when everyone you ever called “friend” turned his back on you and betrayed you.  In every hardship, every crushing blow, know that because Jesus went there first, you can be there in that place where, contrary to every shred of common sense, you share the secret peace that passes all understanding, the comfort that only God Himself can give, so that your heart, your body, your mind, can rest. It is a place that transcends human will, human emotion, human feelings.  It is the time when, despite the overwhelming human urge to give in and quit, you must acknowledge something beyond your own ability – your trust in God. The “stepping out” when it defies common sense; the “holding fast our confession.” Saying, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”

The secret place isn’t for the faint of heart, or the wishy-washy of faith. The secret place commands an act of your will, because even though the secret place is, by its very nature, a place of safety, dwelling in it is in not for cowards who are swayed by what they see happening all around them. Do you think it is no sweat to see a thousand fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand? Do you think it is painless to dash your foot on a stone? Do you believe that you would not be faint with fear of all the danger outside your home if you could really see all that is out there, trying to get at you?  The secret place is not a place where there is no danger, rather, it is a place of safety in the midst of that danger, and you must realize that dwelling in it is a matter of choice. Holding fast to your confession, choosing to put your trust in God, these are day-to-day decisions that don’t happen accidentally. They are conscious, verbal, heart choices that you will to make, sometimes in spite of, not because of whatever circumstance you happen to find yourself in. It is your decision – and you can do it, so don’t let anything stand in your way!

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