Hiding Place

Psalm 32:7 “You are a hiding place for me…”

Insecurity is a bully. It picks on the weak link. It preys on vulnerability. It stalks the hurt ones. It minimizes your worth and most of all Gods glory. I read something a few weeks ago, an article that someone had shared on Facebook. The point was for women to stop telling each other “you are a daughter of the king” and to “look to the king.” The idea was that upon pronouncing and encouraging each other with the truth, that somehow we are being selfish-taking the glory from God. I immediately hit the “like”button but as the weeks have flown by, I couldn’t stop pondering over it. I would go back and forth over the subject, usually settling somewhere in the middle.Then God clarified the chaotic debate within my mind; “to know who you truly are , you must know who I truly am. To truly worship me ,you must know who and what I have declared over you to be true. If one questions their identity, they will question Me, for your identity is lost in Mine.”
Shallow. That’s the point the writer of the article was making. They were making the assumption that those who focus on their identity lack spiritual depth. 
I had the honor and the privilege to speak to a group of girls last week. As I searched the Lords heart for a lesson through prayer, the single word insecurity kept rising up in my spirit. For I knew that if they realized who they are in Christ at such a young age their lives would be different. As I stood on the platform my eyes surveyed the room, there were ladies from around 8 years old all the way up into 50/60’s. As I taught what God had taught me, I saw a thread that ties all women of all ages together; we had all been struck down by the blows of insecurity. 

Insecurity is simply the emotion we feel when we are vulnerable. The threat of uncertainty (whether outward or inward) makes us crave a hiding place. Somewhere or something that makes us feel safe. 
The woman at the well in John 4, was marked by insecurity. She would go fetch water at noon, when no one else was around. She isolated herself so no one would see. She came that day to exchange her empty water jar for a full one.  But instead a divine exchange took place; one where temporal satisfaction was traded for eternal security. She had been seeking temporal worldly solutions to a eternal spiritual problem. She was trying to satisfy the craving for truth with lies. Trying to justify her hunger for security,she went from man to man, seeking something she could not find. She was looking for something, anything, that would bail her out of the turmoil from within. Something in the depths of her soul screamed for a safe place to land….

Insecurity oozes out of our hearts and into our actions. It’s not long before it takes root in our lifestyle. It effects the way we communicate with other people, the way we make decisions, it can even be a player on how we serve God. 
Insecurity does not only effect ourselves, it effects the kingdom of God. We each have a personal purpose laid upon our heads. John 15:16 the Word says “you did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” We have been saved and called into a personal relationship with Christ and appointed to a purpose on this planet. Vertical-from Gods heart to our own. The word appointed is so interesting, it actually means “to lay horizontal.” So as our personal calling is between ourselves and the Lord Jesus, we have a mission given by Him that will connect the world to God through us-Horizontal purpose meets vertical calling and we have a diagram of personal purpose; the cross. 
Our personal purpose is found in the cross of Jesus Christ. If we are too scared, too timid, to take hold of that purpose than Gods kingdom is cheated; all because we didn’t truly understand we are a daughter of the king. 

The greatest threat to your calling is your own insecurity. 
Identity means “oneness”. Paul uses the phrase “in Christ” 164 times in his epistle writings. The idea insisted upon by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul was; for believers to realize their identity SO THAT they could act like who they are. 

America is in turmoil. For some, they believe their identity as a woman is being highjacked. Women’s marches are popping up in cities, large and small, all over our wonderful nation. They march for their rights, when the only march that will define us is the march to the cross! You want to fight for your identity? March to the cross and to the Word! There is your victory. 

Christ sets the parameters of our identity, not circumstances or choices. 
You are not limited by your accomplishments and you are more than what you are not- because Christ is more. 
Eph 2:5-6 “even when we’re dead in our trespasses, (he)made us alive together with Christ-by grace you have been saved- and raised us up with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus..”

Even though we live in the world our identity and our resources come from a higher plane. Tozer says: “We must avoid the common fault of pushing the “other world” into the future. It is not future but present. It parallels our familiar world, and the doors between the two worlds are open.” The veil has been torn, the cross bridged the gap between the two worlds, as Christ stance of victory swallowed up all who would cling to His name. 

This could be life changing for us; to operate out of the bounty of Christ instead of depending on our own poverty. 

Christ is enough. 
That’s what the woman at the well figured out that fateful day in Samaria. She found her safe haven in the words of a Jewish Prophet, who happened to be her Messiah. Her thirst was quenched as she drew from the reservoir of Living Water. She couldn’t keep it in, she left her water jar and ran into the city “come see the man who told me everything I had ever done.”
Strange. She went from avoiding her insecurity to confronting it. She didn’t have to hide behind it’s  mark anymore, what she had done did not define her anymore-Jesus did.  
Insecurity is a prison. Jer 2:13 says “for my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the spring of living water and they have been out cisterns that can not hold water.” The word cistern or well in ancient times could also be used for pit or prision. (Joseph was familiar with the double meaning, he was stripped and thrown into a dry cistern, which was a make shift prision.)

Truth is the key to the prison of insecurity.

John 8:31-32 “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” 

 As I gazed out on the young faces that filled the room I knew that they weren’t the only ones who are prone to fall for the subtleties   of the enemy. For example after speaking I always get hit with this one: “that was a train wreck, you are hopeless…God gave you the message but you messed it up” Insecurity highlights our faults and limits Gods power. Instead of bowing to that lie I have to train myself to agree with what truth of the word says. In fact we see its not that focusing on who we are in Him is selfish-it’s just the opposite- focusing on who we are without Him is.

Learning to combat the lies of the enemy with the truth of the word-that’s how to unlock that prision door. 
What defines you? A job? Your family? Your education? Obessesion is spawn of insecurity. We throw ourselves into whatever it is that offers a little relief. Trouble is it’s temporary at best and has a faulty foundation. So, we try harder, comitt more…and obsession is born. Is it the choices you have made? The circumstances you find yourself in? Or is it Christ? Look at your actions, at your words and habits and you will find the true answer hidden beneath the mask of false security. 

Many of us are bare the mark of insecurity; Anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness, timidity, fear, lacking confidence and zeal. (indifference and complacency are the evil step sisters of insecurity. It keeps us locked away in our comfort zones and we drown in a sea of casualness.) We say we believe God, we say we trust Him but the evidence of our hearts would prove otherwise. Truth is-we’re too scared to. We hide where we feel the safest. For most of us that would be the place where we have the most control. Rebellion isn’t the only outcome of insecurity; perfectionism, our desire to control the situations around us, can be just as deadly. 
Ann Voskamp says “at the core of everyone of our issues is the attempt to construct our identity on something besides Christ.”  
The mark of security is the cross. And the cross says you are chosen, holy, blameless, blessed with every spiritual blessing, redeemed, forgiven, sealed with the Spirit, lavished with grace and wisdom, loved, predestined, foreknew, victorious, justified and glorified, entrusted with Resurrection power and the keys to the kingdom. You are all these things…because Christ is all these things and you my dear are His; the display of His splendor. 
So, I have to say that from this perspective looking at our identity and claiming the truth of Christ’s words is not shallow but instead throws us into the depth of Christ’s grace. Col 3:3 says that our lives are hidden in Christ, so to find our lives (who we are)we must first go through Christ. He bids us come, lay down our bailing vessels and find what we have been looking for, a safe place.