Secret Place

Have you ever listened to a song that resonated with you, but you couldn’t figure out why? Maybe once you looked at the lyrics you thought, “Okay, but what does that mean?” I find poetry confusing sometimes, like there’s a deeper layer that I just can’t comprehend. Maybe I missed that lesson on how to understand it. Sometimes when I hear another person’s interpretation, I feel lost and left out. 

It happened to me this week, but in this case, it didn’t take too much exploring to figure it out. It was a song about “the secret place” we find in God, aptly named Secret Place by Hillsong. Now, as a parent and a teacher, secrets make me nervous. Usually things that are kept secret harbor some shady undertones. In my junior high mind, “secrets don’t make friends”. But in this case, I know that “God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.” (1 John 1:5). Any secret connected to God isn’t problematic, in fact, it will be for our good and for His glory.

As a lifelong Bible scholar, I have seen this term, “secret place”, but it gave me pause for some reason. Did I really know what that meant? Was I making this more difficult than it had to be? Yes, to both. But I also knew that if I was wondering, someone else might be too. It only took a few minutes of searching to find my answer. 

Simply put, nothing is hidden from God, but I am hidden in Him. God is not surprised by my sin, God is not surprised by world events. God is not caught off guard by life’s hiccups or devastating blows. On the flip side, when all of these things surprise me, I can run to Him in retreat. 

Psalm 91:4-6 tells us, “He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. You will not fear the terror of the night, the arrow that flies by day, the plague that stalks in darkness, or the pestilence that ravages at noon.” (CSB). Like an umbrella in the rain, a tent in the blazing sun, a blanket in the winter, God covers us with protection and solace. 

The secret place is not so much a place, but an act of continually communicating with God. It is sharing my troubles, sorrows, worries, celebrations, passions, and feelings with God. It’s not hiding from God, like Adam and Eve did, but hiding with God, like David did. 

One of my students was having a rough day this week. He’s beautifully tender-hearted, and he’d required several words of correction that day. When I paused to get on his level and explain why we had to fix some things, he got tearful and said “I just want to hide for a minute”. I told him my comfy alphabet rug in the back of the room was the perfect hiding spot, and he was welcome to sit for as long as he needed. Within seconds he was stretched out, face down, and in the process of resetting. We emotionally connected, and he felt safe. It was definitely a sweet moment at the time, but typing it out brings tears to my eyes, because I now see the connection to how God helps us reset in that secret place. 

Some of the lyrics in the song say:

And I remember the beginning

When I found the secret place

Don’t know why it felt familiar

But I knew it right away

There were times it seemed so simple

And sometimes so unsure

But not a moment was ever wasted

Knelt behind those closed doors

I’ve listened to it so many times this week, and it has been an encouragement to lean into Jesus in my moments of short-temperedness or tiredness. It has reminded me that the celebrations are even sweeter when we share them with our Creator. I want the secret place to be a place I go out of muscle memory, familiar as my home address.

How beautiful that our God intended us to abide in Him and dwell with Him, enough so that He made a place for us. Enough so that I didn’t have to do hours of research to understand His words. His Truth is clear and present, nothing hidden, yet a place to hide.