Image of “Covered”: https://hopechurchtw.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Covered_Sermon_Graphic-1080×608.jpg
Image of Hiding Place”: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pilgrimtraveler1/18979838865/
Worship in Word:
IV. Confidence/Shelter/Security – v. 7
In verses 5 and 6, I imagined David seeing the approaching turbulent waters of wrath and crying out to those writhing under the bondage of unconfessed sin. He was especially warning the godly, who, like David, were suffering from the guilt of unconfessed sin. Having looked down in the valley of sin, David now turns his gaze heavenward and confesses his confidence in the Lord as his refuge. Hallelujah! From confession of sin to protection and praise!
From Wrath to Refuge
A. Confidence – You are my hiding place… You will protect me… and surround me
David declares his confidence in the One who has blessed, delivered, and preserved him despite his failings. Notice the air of certainty in the words “You are” and “You will.” He is confident that God is and will be his sanctuary, safeguard, and song. 1
From Shame to Shelter
B. Shelter – You are my hiding place
David’s confidence covers all the “tenses” in this psalm. Because of the blessings and forgiveness experienced in the past (recounted in vv. 1-5), he is confident in the sheltering presence of the LORD in the present and the future!
Furthermore, this hiding place has a negative aspect, “will protect,” and a positive one, “surround.” The negative aspect will be covered more fully under C in my outline. I will cover the positive side in my next blog/journal entry.
From Dejection to Protection
C. Security – You will protect me from trouble
And David’s confidence in the present now spills over into his certainty that God’s faithful protection will continue even into the future.
He begins with the negative aspect. God is a shelter, in this context, from the trouble that follows from the effects of our sins.
“The hiding place is not used in the same sense as in other psalms where it means protection from enemies. Here it is deliverance from the overwhelming guilt that was brought about by God’s reaction to the psalmist’s own sin.” Warstler, K. R. (2017). Psalms. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 845). Holman Bible Publishers.
“Verse 7 returns to the individual, and like v. 6, it uses images that are often reserved for the enemies, demonstrating that sometimes the enemy is not others but indeed ourselves.”Jacobson, R. A., & Tanner, B. (2014). Book One of the Psalter: Psalms 1–41. In E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, & R. L. Hubbard Jr. (Eds.), The Book of Psalms (p. 308). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
However, we cannot rule out a broader sense in this passage as protection from the world, the flesh, and the devil. In other words, it can be viewed as a place of safety from any kind of trouble. That is not to say that everything will be peaceful and tranquil in a believer’s life following our confession of sin and our profession of salvation and security in the Lord.
“Thou shall preserve me from trouble; not from having it; for in this world the saints must have tribulation, and through it enter the kingdom, but from being swallowed up with it; the Lord will bring them safe out of it…” (from John Gill’s Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
The word used for “protect”(NIV/NLT) or “preserve”(KJV/NLT) is the Hebrew word natsar and can be translated as:
to guard, to watch, to watch over, to keep (Qal)
1) to watch, to guard, to keep
2) to preserve, to guard from dangers
3) to keep, to observe, to guard with fidelity
4) to guard, to keep secret
5) to be kept close, to be blockaded
6) a watchman (participle)
(from The Online Bible Thayer’s Greek Lexicon and Brown Driver & Briggs Hebrew Lexicon, Copyright © 1993, Woodside Bible Fellowship, Ontario, Canada. Licensed from the Institute for Creation Research.)
While context often determines how a word is translated, I see no reason not to attach, in some aspect, every meaning inherent in the word natsar when used in verse.
Worship in Witness:
One resource I have on one of my Bible software programs makes this observation and asks us a vital question.
In verses 3 and 4 David was hiding from God, but in verse 7 he is hiding in God. Which are you doing? It makes such a difference. Some of us remember when we were hiding from God and were so miserable and unhappy; and then instead of hiding from Him we turned roundabout face and went directly to Him to find our hiding place in Him.
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and pow’r.”
(from Ironside Commentaries, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2012 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)
When the issue concerns trouble of our own making, we understand that no work of contrition will absolve us of guilt. We find forgiveness, deliverance, and refuge only by sincere confession and repentance -but acknowledging that these actions merit nothing. They are only obtained by and through the blood of Jesus, our great God and Savior.
Yet –
How often do I exit God’s shelter?
When troubles come my way,
And fear makes me flee
its accompanying swelter.
Seeking refuge in earthly answers
To deliver me from my dilemma
Eschewing God’s devoted protection
from its debilitating cancers
Lord, keep me when trials come my way
From leaving Your faithful protection
To dance with an unfaithful lover
and be enticed by their seductive sway
~Amen
Witness in Promise, Poem, Prayer, and Praise
Natsar
Lord,
I praise You,
You are my watchman.
When things get hard
You are my faithful Guard.
You are my life’s preservation.
When dangers abound
In You, I am safe and sound.
You are a blockade from evil.
I have no reason to fear;
You keep me close; You are always near.
Amen
(I wrote this prayer based on the definition of the Hebrew word natsar – protect/preserve)
From…To
From hiding to confiding
Set free from conscience’s chiding
From repression to confession
The telling of my transgressions
From wrath to refuge
That delivers me from the deluge
From shame to shelter
Shading me from conviction’s swelter
From dejection to protection
Delivering me from sin’s disaffection
From sorrow to song
My heart’s delight all day long
From pressure to praise
When I willingly walk in God’s ways
From silence to singing
The air with rescue songs ringing
(I wrote this poem based on the first seven verses of Psalm 32. As you see, I used some of the lines from the poem as headings over each point in my outline above.
My Hiding Place #191 from the Hymnal – Hymns of Grace
Words: Jehoida Brewer and David L. Ward
Music: David L. Ward
1. Against the God who rules the sky, I fought with hands uplifted high;
Despised the mention of His grace, too proud to seek a hiding place!
But an eternal counsel ran: “Almighty love, arrest that man!”
I felt the arrows of disgrace and found I had no hiding place.
Refrain:
My Jesus is my hiding place, surrounding me with steadfast love and grace.
In death, He’ll be my hiding place, and I shall ever see His smiling face.
2. Indignant Justice stood in view; to Sinai’s fiery mount, I flew;
But Justice cried with frowning face, “This mountain is no hiding place.”
Ere long a heav’nly voice I heard, and mercy for my soul appeared,
Which led me on with smiling face to Jesus Christ, my hiding place.
3. On Him almighty vengeance fell: enough to sink the world to hell,
He bore it for His chosen race, and thus became their hiding place.
Should storms of mighty vengeance roll and shake this earth from pole to pole,
No flaming bolt could daunt my face, for Jesus is my hiding place.
© 2008 ThousandTongues.org
Vocalists: Diane Brown, Jaz Hoffman, Philip Webb
Instrumentalists: Cathy Biagini, Enoria Lee, Benjamin Mason
Arrangement from Hymns of Grace Accompaniment Edition https://hymnsofgrace.com/products/acc
Lyrics & Video: https://youtu.be/usEZ3Wkh4KY
The above is a rendition of the song “My Hiding Place” written by Jehoida Brewer, from which David L. Ward adapted and arranged the song presented above. Like many hymns written in the past, the original version is much longer. This one had seven verses. I have provided a link here to the original words, which are powerful and profound for anyone who wants to seek a further blessing: https://unforgottenhymns.com/my-hiding-place-lyrics/
1 I realize there is disagreement among Hebrew Grammarians concerning the concept of tense. Most do not believe that Old Testament Hebrew has a tense, so the context must determine the tense. Even then, translators may differ in translating a verb’s tense in the sentence. Sometimes, a verb of being is absent and must be supplied so the translation makes sense in English.
Both situations appear in verse 7:
1)The second-person verb of being, “are,” is absent in Hebrew – but certainly implied. Thus, it is added by the translators to make the sentence grammatically correct in English. The literal rendering would be: “You my hiding place” or even more literally, “You hiding place my.”
2) Some translations of this verse contain the word “will,” which can be taken as a future tense, but others do not. It doesn’t change the meaning much, and with or without it, certainty is upheld. The point is that David is confident that God is his “hiding place,” and “is” and “will” be his protector in times of trouble, and “will” and “is” surrounding him with “songs of deliverance.” Amen!
Psalms For The Journey 
