Nahum 1:7 “God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help, No matter how desperate the trouble.” Today's episode talks about how we can rely on God in times of trouble. He is always there for us. It lists various ways we can turn to God to get our mind off of what all that is causing us to struggle. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Make God Your Hiding Place
Nahum 1:7 “God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help, No matter how desperate the trouble.” (message translation)
I was unsure on what verse to use today and so I looked up the verse of the day. As soon as I read it I knew it was the perfect verse for today as I have several friends who are struggling right now. I decided to use the message translation because I love how it puts the Bible into terms that are so easy to understand. This particular verse I loved the first line. “God is good, a hiding place in tough times.” When we are in tough times, we could all use a hiding place. We could all use something to distract us so that we don’t have to think about what is going on. We need something to take our mind off of the upcoming appointments, the “what ifs” that are running through our minds, the things we wish we could go back and change, the uncertainty of what the future holds. We wish we could change it all. Our mind is racing from one thing to another and it is making us nervous and uncertain.
We just want to watch tv, scroll on our phones, read a book, do something to hide from our problems and worries. Sometimes we even through ourselves into work because we just want to hide from everything else. When I read this verse this morning it occurred to me that I never thought God could be that hiding place. What came to mind when I read that verse was that we could bury ourselves in him instead of TV, books, work, and scrolling on our phones. We could hide in the scriptures. We don’t have to know what to read. God is really good at leading us if we let Him. We could just sit down with the Bible and open it up and God will speak to us through whatever we are reading in the Bible. Yes, He is that good. No matter what you are reading in the Bible, God can have it speak to you in your particular situation.
You can also hide in prayer. Instead of just thinking of all the things that might go wrong, you can turn each thought over the God. When a thought comes into your head, like “what if the doctor says I need another surgery,” you can immediately pray to God, “Lord, please let this be it. In Jesus’ name please let the doctor say I don’t need anymore surgery.” When you start thinking about all that could go wrong, you can turn each one over to the Lord. You can say something like, “Dad, I give these thoughts to you.” You can also ask the Lord to give you the strength for whatever is coming. “Lord, only you know the future. I pray that you give me the grace and the strength to face whatever comes my way. I pray I can feel your presence through this whole journey.”
You could also escape your thoughts with prayers that are already written and you just have to recite them. These could include the Hail Mary, the Our Father, Glory be to the father, the rosary, or any other prayers you know. The St. Michael prayer is a great one when you are feeling anxious or worried. There are also countless novenas you could say. A novena is a prayer or group of prayers you can say for nine days. There is a miraculous rosary you can say. It is a something you say for 54 days, 27 days in petition for something, and 27 days in thanksgiving for something. I believe Mary appeared to someone to give them this rosary and told them that whatever the petition they are asking for will be granted to them. Tony and I have seen amazing results from this prayer. You could just search for a novena for your particular circumstance, most are much shorter than the miraculous rosary, they just take a minute to say.
Another way you could hide in the Lord is to listen to praise music, or to praise the Lord on your own. Praise the Lord is just thanking Him for all He has done and telling Him how amazing He is. Listening to praise music can be a great way to settle our mind. Instead of sitting thinking of all the things running through our heads we can listen to praise and worship music, which is usually filled with words from scripture. If you sing along that is a great way to get your mind off your troubles. If you don’t know the words, you can always go on YouTube and watch the lyric video so you can sing along. There are so many great songs out there for when you are struggling. There is a playlist on Spotify called “Big Life Mornings” and it is full of upbeat music.
Listening to podcasts is another way to take your mind off of all you are going through. There are daily devotionals, like this one and The Big Life devotional that examine scripture. There are also ones that are longer and go a lot deeper into the scripture, like the Elevation Podcast with Steven Furtick. There are also podcasts for anything you are going through. If you are struggling and feel like you would like some help processing it, you can search for whatever is causing your struggle. For instance, podcasts about cancer, podcasts about depression, anxiety, divorce, marriage issues, parenting. Whatever your are struggling with, there is someone else who is not only struggling with it, but they are talking about it on their podcast or on Youtube.
Today’s verse says, “God is good, a hiding place in tough times. He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help, No matter how desperate the trouble.” God is good, I know you know this and yet sometimes we need to remind ourselves of this fact, especially when our thoughts start to get the better of us. God recognized you and welcomes you when you are looking for help. This is reminding us that God sees us. He knows we are struggling, He knows we need help. He welcomes us with open arms and assures us He is there with us. I love that the last line is “No matter how desperate the trouble.” Sometimes we can know on some level God will be there and yet we can also struggle to believe that He will help us or we think our thing is too big for Him. This verse assures us, no matter how desperate the times are. There is no problem that is too big or two small for God. He is in every situation and He will take care of it. We can rest in that promise, we can count on it.
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Dad, there are so many who are struggling right now. We ask you to come and comfort them, help them feel your presence. We ask that you help calm the racing thoughts and fill their hearts and minds with the peace of Christ. Lord, give them a supernatural wisdom that you will take care of it and that you are already working all things for their good. Help them to know they can count on you, rely on you and even hide in you if they need. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you would like an autographed copy of my book with a personal message just for you, CLICK HERE. If you get a message that says it is unavailable, that will go away as soon as you pick regular or personalized. Also, if you would like to receive my weekly newsletter CLICK HERE. I look forward to bringing you a witness tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!