HIDE ME IN YOU
When the fears take a hold
And my tears overflow
O Lord, hide me in You
Before my first day of kindergarten, Momma took me to see my very first school and to meet my very first teacher. My teacher-to-be, Ms. Larrick, kindly gave me some paper and crayons to color with while the adults talked. When they’d finished their chat, she looked at my drawing and asked me what it was. I shyly stated that it was a picture of me hiding behind a rock. I didn’t know then as a five-year-old where to hide…but behind a big rock seemed like a good idea! Need I say more? Sometimes we just need a safe place to hide.
When I suffer through pain
And I lose love again
O Lord, hide me in You
By the fourth grade, I’d had my childhood fill of fears, tears, pain and loss. One night in January of that year, Momma took me to a special service at church. It was there that a pastor told me about Someone who could always protect me, Someone who could always be there for me. Then he asked that very pivotal question: ‘Would you like to ask this Someone to be with you always?’ Without hesitation I knew that I absolutely did want this Someone to be with me forever! And that’s when I traded in my crayon drawing of a rock for the real Rock…Jesus Christ.
“A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
A wonderful Savior to me;
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.”
~ Fanny J. Crosby, 1890
Now all these years later, I can wholeheartedly testify that the Lord truly has always been with me, and I am hidden in the Rock forever.
When I breathe my last breath
And mine eyes close in death
O Lord, hide me in You
As my soul begins to soar
And I live forevermore
O Lord, hide me in You
As tens of thousands of others have sung over the past 250 years, I too have loved singing these words written by Augustus M. Toplady back in 1776:
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. A-men.”