Hiding Place

John 7:³⁰ “Then the leaders tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.”

We ended the devotional yesterday with the question, why do people die before their time? I hope that you took time out to wrestle with it. It will be impossible for any force to take you out before your time in the Mighty Name of Jesus. However, wrestling with questions like this, help us stand and act in wisdom. We have established that dying before time is not about age. Jesus died at age thirty-three, while some will call that untimely death, it was not. John 12:²³ “Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory.” When people live beyond their time, they become a nuisance to everybody. God sent a message to king Hezekiah to put his house in order because his time had come. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, pleaded with God, and got fifteen more years. Sadly, in those fifteen years, Hezekiah wrecked everything he had built and left curses for his children. Living beyond your time is not very useful for you or the Lord. However, people do die before their time and the question is why?

In today’s anchor scripture, one thing we can learn from Jesus, and it shows us why people die before their time is, people do not know how to hide before it is time to shine. If you try to shine before it is time, you are asking for an untimely death. There is a place for hiding; Jesus, the Maker of heaven and the earth, was hiding from Judea [John 7:1]. We know that Jesus is not a coward, right? When God gave the Jews a deliverer, Moses, God hid him. Could God have prevented Pharaoh from killing Moses? Of course, but God does not work like that. Moses had to hide and guess where God hid him? In Pharaoh’s palace but Moses had to hide. When Moses jumped the gun and tried to deliver Israel before it was time, when Moses tried to shine before it was time, he almost lost his life. Moses had to run, and he went to hide for another forty years.

When Jesus was born, Herod wanted to kill the children that were born two years and below. Jesus was God even though He was baby Jesus, could He have had His angels protect Him? Could God have sent His angels to protect Jesus? Yes, but instead God told Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus to run and hide. There is a place for hiding. John 7:¹ “After this, Jesus travelled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death.” John 8:⁵⁹ “At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.” If Jesus did not know how to hide, He would have died before His time. Ps.91:¹ “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (KJV]. For some of us, search warrants have been issued but they cannot find us because we are hiding in the secret place of the Most High. The value of your life is directly proportional to the quality of your hiding. No man is stronger than his hiding place. You must have a hiding place. Me, I just go into The Rock and I dwell there.

Prayer [hymn]: 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 save from wrath… Amen!