I want to tell you about my favorite hiding place of all time. It was in the small wooded area behind the house I grew up in. There was a spot where several small, thin trees supported one another, forced into inter-dependance by storms and held upright by overgrown vines. The conglomeration of foliage formed a sort of natural teepee perfectly camouflaged into the surrounding. There was no door. You had to push through the outer layer but once inside you were guaranteed a win at hide-and-seek. I loved that place. It felt safe; nothing could get you. People could walk within inches of you and never know you were there. I have not outgrown hiding. None of us have. It still appeals to us. We hide from our troubles, from conflict, and from people. We feel inadequate, entitled, or broken. And so we seek safety or distraction. Some hide in drugs and alcohol, trying to make what’s chasing them disappear. Some of us bury our heads in other things such as work, family, relationships, hobbies, or spending money thinking that if we are successful in those places we won’t need to address our failures and our brokenness. Legend has it that in 1776 Augustus Toplady was overtaken by a terrifying thunderstorm and took shelter in a rocky glenn between to massive pillars of limestone. That’s where he penned the line “Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.” We hide because we know we cannot take life on our own. We will have to answer for how we have lived our lives. That makes me want to crawl into that backyard teepee right now. But God has become our hiding place. We can hide in him because the water and the blood that flowed from his wounded side is a double cure. It saves us from God’s wrath and makes us pure. It is safety from our past and for the future. No matter what happens we will be safe. If you are hiding in Christ, when God looks at you he sees you as perfect and blameless, no short comings. All he sees is the hiding place. If you hide there it is difficult to be worried with anything else.