The Hiding Place

Bill Fitzhenry's Thoughts For Today…

The Hiding Place

Proverbs 18:10-11 NKJV

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
The righteous run to it and are safe.
11 The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
And like a high wall in his own esteem.

Safety from the danger of internal lawlessness and foreign invasion is a first concern of any people. Our Federal Union was formed as a first cause to protect the national borders. This concern for safety has again become an issue as there are more home invasions, senseless injuries in minor robberies, and physical threats on city streets.

The writer of Proverbs looked at the need for a safe haven and by contrast gives what is and what is not a safe retreat in dangerous times.

Proverbs 18:10 “A strong tower” is a desirable place of safety. Read Genesis 11:4 and Judges 9:46-53 as a picture of what a tower meant to that culture. It was a place built by a collective society to provide for them an impregnable defense against attack. It was a guaranteed place of safety.

The writer informs the reader where this safety is, “The name of the Lord,” who alone has access to this retreat, “the righteous”, and how this access is gained, he “runs into it”.

1. “The name of the Lord”, is God in the fullness of His self revelation. There are facts to be noticed:

A. It is “the name.” This is someone who is known. For the Old Testament writer to know someone’s name was to know them. This requires that God reveal Himself. There is no way to know God unless He is revealed. John 1:18; Hebrews 1:1-2

This is the pivotal point of salvation. God is known to His people. They know His name. He has revealed Himself to them, John 17:8. For all claims of all religions and to every form of salvation this must be the test. How does their claim to know God square with His self revelation in Holy Scripture?

B. It is “the Lord.” The Covenant God who has revealed Himself as the Savior of His people is the single object of safety. All salvation lies in covenant faithfulness. This can be no more clearly illustrated than Jonah in the depth of his despair when he prayed and concluded, “Salvation is of the Lord.” Jonah 2:9c

2. Access to safety is limited to the righteous. The contrast in Vs 11 is a way of this being abundantly clear. In Vs 11 the rich man has a false hope. His safety is in his wealth. But this exists only in his imagination. There is no real safety for him. The evident fact is his loss. If the rich man who has every advantage and every reason to expect safety in his wealth is lost, what hope can anyone with less advantage have? He has no hope.

The one who has God as deliverer may be ever so poor or ever so wealthy but his wealth does not determine his identity.

There are several ways Abraham is remembered. He is the “friend of God”. He is a just man. He is “the father of the “faithful”. Though he had immense wealth it never identifies him. When a Bible student thinks of Abraham he does not think of his wealth but his faith in the Lord who called him.

3. There is a single place of safety, “the name of the Lord”, and the only one who gets there is “the righteous”. There is a single way to the place of safety, he “runs into it.” It will help to understand this if we look back at Judges 9:42-53. In each instance of the people fleeing into the available towers, it is evident they trusted their safety to what the tower provided. In one instance it failed and in one instance it succeeded. The lesson in Judges 9 is that the tower represented safety and those who fled there trusted or had faith they would be safe there.

Proverbs 18:10 assures us of complete safety in the object of our faith. The one who “runs into it is safe”. Please read Romans 5:8-11.

From ev'ry stormy wind that blows,

From ev'ry swelling tide of woes,

There is a calm, a sure retreat:

'Tis found beneath the mercy seat.

There, there, on eagles' wings we soar,

And time and sense seem all no more;

And heaven comes down, our souls to greet,

And glory crowns the mercy seat.                                      Hugh Stowell, 1799–1865