Ever felt like escaping? Like your problems were so overwhelming that you couldn’t take facing them anymore? Or you just needed a break from everyone and everything? We’ll probably all feel like that at some point in our lives. A couple of week’s holiday away from everything may help in the short-term, but at some point we still have to come back to reality and face everything again. Escaping doesn’t solve anything and it’s not always practical to drop everything and get away. But there’s somewhere we can go, a place that actually makes a difference. And that place is God’s presence. A number of times in the Bible, the psalmist writes that God is his hiding place. Psalm 32:7 says: ‘You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.’ And Psalm 119:114 says: ‘You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word’ (NCV). While it doesn’t mean that nothing bad will ever happen to us, it does mean that we’ve got a place to go and find rest from our situations. Taking that time out of our lives to just be in God’s presence, helps us to have a break from everything we have to face each day. But more than that, we leave the hiding place restored and revived. The Bible says: ‘Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint’ (Isaiah 40:30-31 NIV). We might enter His presence overwhelmed and weak, but we leave renewed and full of God’s strength.

What Now?

Schedule some time today to spend with God. Get away from anything that distracts you from Him, and let Him speak to you and renew your strength.