The Carpenters sang a song a very long time ago named simply “Hideaway”. The opening line was “I’ve got to find a place to hideaway, far from the shadows of my mind. Sunlight and laughter, love ever after, oh, how I long to find a place to hideaway.”
I remember listening to that song on my little Panasonic monaural cassette player/recorder as I read shortly after it came out in 1971. In fact, whenever I hear the song, or think of the book I was reading, the other still comes to mind, as if I had really found that place to hide away. The lilting, plaintive melody seemed to belie the text of the song, seeking to get away from life.
The Psalmist also sought a place to hideaway. In Psalm 17:8 he said “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings” (ESV). In Psalm 27:5 “… He will hide me His shelter in the day of trouble”. Again in Psalm 31:20 we read “In the cover of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men; You store them in Your shelter from the strife of tongues.”
The Psalms are full of the imagery of God as our refuge, our hiding place, as are many of our hymns and songs of the faith. “Hiding in Thee“, by William Cushing immediately comes to mind,
O safe to the Rock that is higher than I,
My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;
So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine, would I be;
Thou blest “Rock of Ages,” I’m hiding in Thee.
Chorus
Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,
Thou blest “Rock of Ages,”
I’m hiding in Thee.
In the calm of the noontide, in sorrow’s lone hour,
In times when temptation casts o’er me its power;
In the tempests of life, on its wide, heaving sea,
Thou blest “Rock of Ages,” I’m hiding in Thee.
How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe,
I have fled to my refuge and breathed out my woe;
How often, when trials like sea billows roll,
Have I hidden in Thee, O Thou Rock of my soul.
Another, and one of my favorites, is Rock Of Ages, written by Augustus Toplady in the mid 1700s.
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 and make me pure.
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save and Thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly,
Wash me, Savior or I die!
While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
Then there is this one, “Hide Away in the Love of Jesus” written much more recently (2008) by Steve and Vikki Cook
Come, weary saints, though tired and weak
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Your strength will return by His quiet streams
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Come, wandering souls, and find your home
Hide away in the love of Jesus
He offers the rest that you yearn to know
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Hear Him calling your name
See the depths of His love
In the wounds of His grace
Hide away
Come, guilty ones weighed down with sin
Hide away in the love of Jesus
The freedom you long for is found in Him
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Come, hopeless hearts, do not despair
Hide away in the love of Jesus
For ten thousand joys await you there
Hide away in the love of Jesus
© 2008 Integrity’s Hosanna! Music (ASCAP)/Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).
Where is your hiding place – in whom do you find refuge? There is no better place to be than hiding in the love of Jesus!
