📖 Biblical Definition
YHWH Himself is the saint’s hiding place from trouble — not a cave, a strategy, or a powerful patron, but the LORD personally. "Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance" (Psalm 32:7; cf. 119:114; 143:9). Earthly hiding places fail under sufficient pressure: armies fall, friends turn, walls crack, fortunes vanish. YHWH-as-hiding-place is sufficient and sure — the only refuge that holds in the final storm. Corrie ten Boom titled her memoir of God’s preservation amid Nazi terror after this very text. Christian men learn to flee not from trouble but to the LORD, who hides them under the shadow of His wing (Psalm 91:1, 4).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
YHWH as personal hiding place from trouble.
expand to see more
Davidic image of YHWH Himself as the saint's hiding place. Psalm 32:7 names it directly: "Thou art my hiding place." Psalm 119:114: "Thou art my hiding place and my shield." The image runs through Scripture and into Christian devotional history (Corrie ten Boom's The Hiding Place). Earthly hiding places fail; YHWH does not.
📖 Key Scripture
Psalm 32:7 — "Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance."
Psalm 119:114 — "Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word."
Isaiah 32:2 — "And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern self-reliance treats hiding as weakness; biblical hiding in YHWH is the wise refuge.
expand to see more
Self-reliance culture treats "hiding" as cowardice. Scripture treats hiding in the LORD as wisdom. There is shame-hiding (Adam from God) and refuge-hiding (David in God). The first kind is sin's reflex; the second is faith's discipline.
Recover the refuge: when trouble comes, hide in the LORD. He compasses His own about with songs of deliverance.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew seter.
expand to see more
['Hebrew', 'H5643', 'seter', 'covering, hiding place']
Usage
"Thou art my hiding place; preserve me."
"Refuge-hiding, not shame-hiding."
"Songs of deliverance compass the hidden."