32:7 Girl, Part 1
by Paulette Stamper
I want to be a 32:7 girl.
I bet you will too. Let’s dive deep into Psalm 32:7 over the next several weeks and discover what it means to be a 32:7 girl.
You are my hiding place. You will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7).
Recently I was given the task of squeezing four separate messages out of this short verse for a women's retreat (shout out to the girls at Lake Aurora Christian Camp! Y’all are a BLAST!!). I leaned in and prayed for wisdom and insight and before I knew it, I was totally consumed. Let me tell you, this verse has marked me, and know I will never get over it. Every single day, I pray to be a 32:7 girl, and I hope you will too.
Before we start unpacking Psalm 32:7, let me share with you a principle I keep in mind when I read the Bible. I call it the Participation Principle. It's based on this premise:
God's Word is truth. God's Word is His Promise. ALL Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), and it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18). Therefore, if God said it, He will do it. Here's where the participation comes into play – often, if we want to experience God's promises, then we must participate in His promises. Allow me to give you just a few examples –
God promised to feed the Israelites with manna while they were in the desert. As promised, the manna was on the ground every morning. However, if the Israelites wanted to experience God's promise, they had to participate by leaving their tents, gathering the manna, and eating it. Have you ever wondered why God didn't just miraculously fill their stomachs in the desert? Why give them manna they had to gather and eat? Because God desires a relationship with us. He wants us to experience Him by participating in His promises.
One more quick example. In Joshua 6:2, the Lord told Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands." Notice the past tense? The promise of victory was given, but the Israelites had to participate by marching around the city (you can read the entire story in Joshua 6).
If I want to experience God's promises, I must choose to participate in God's promises.
When we keep the Participation Principle in mind and read David's prayer, "You are my hiding place," we understand God was David's hiding place precisely because David chose to hide in God.
I know it sounds simple, but follow me a little further down this rabbit trail.
Scripture is clear that God is a hiding place, but David didn't pray, "You are A hiding place." Instead, he said, "You are MY hiding place." See the difference?
Yes, God is a hiding place, but we must choose to participate if we want to experience Him as our hiding place. To personalize it, I have to hide in Him, not from Him.
Jesus said in Luke 13:34, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing." Jesus longed to gather them, but they were not willing. The promise was there, but they chose not to participate. You and I always have a choice whether or not we will participate.
David experienced God as his hiding place because he chose to hide in God.
We all hide at some point. The question isn't "Will I hide?" the question is, "Where will I hide?" When we feel overwhelmed, frustrated, guilty, burdened, afraid, or anxiety-ridden, we need a place to hide.
Have you ever seen a small child run and hide behind the legs of her parent when she's scared? That's a picture of what it looks like when God's daughters hide in Him.
Where do you run when you need to hide? Or perhaps the better question would be, "In Whom do you hide?"
Be a 32:7 girl – choose to hide in God. He promises to be the very best hiding place.
