Matt Richards
Psalm 32:7-9 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.
What a beautiful scripture. I always think of Corrie ten Boom when I read this and the book, and film the 'Hiding Place.'
(If you haven't read or watched it, you need too. She is a true Heroine of the faith).
Corrie (illegally) hid many Jews in the Second World War from the Nazis saving them from the Holocaust.
Going against the culture and oppression of Hitler in the Netherlands, while many of the church were marching with the Nazis in Germany.
How crazy is that? The church had been duped into believing that if you opposed the government you were in rebellion and sinning. (Wow how relevant is this now and going to be in the future?) Wake up church.
Hitler 'adopted' Christianity making it 'Germanic Christianity' and the church bought it making their allegiance to the state, not the bible. (And subsequently did not oppose him but marched with him).
Yep, check out church history, they went from being passive to marching with him.
Only the few insurgents like theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, our loyalty is not to 'positive' Germanic Christianity but to God only and the Bible. And stood out and resisted. He was subsequently executed.
Where would you be today if this was happening near you?
With Hitler or Bonhoeffer?
Where will you be in the future if similar happens here?
Most are saying right now gathering and singing in church you are being rebellious to the country you need stop.
(that's the Christians I mean)
Sound familiar?
"You are disrespecting the law, you are spreading a virus, you are dangerous, you need to get in line and stop causing division and honor your leaders and country" (or something that sounds noble like that.)
But history will show the rebellious few, the remnant, the insurgents, the radicals will go down in history as being the ones that stood out, did not sell out, but lived it out, so the church would not be put out.
I want to be one of those insurgence.
So we will never stop meeting, we will never stop worshipping out loud, privately and publicly. We will never stop sharing our faith, laying hands on the sick, casting out demons, and doing the stuff in the book.
Thank God for the non-confirmists that went before us: the Bonhoefers, the Booms the Wormbrands, the Tyndales, the Wycliffes, and many more.
Don't be afraid to go against the tide.
Be Radical for Jesus. Be the insurgents, You too may need Jesus to provide and be your hiding place.
Prayer:
Father forgive me for just toeing the line without questioning or praying. Help me to have wisdom and boldness to follow You. Be my hiding place today and in the future in Jesus' name amen.
https://youtu.be/ElVC6rfX3Z8