I have been ruminating on something this week. A few days ago, God showed me something strange. It was a little crawfish in muddy water, next to a steel wall. Something alarmed the little creature, and it quickly scooted itself backwards into a hiding place. I saw that the hiding place was a recess built into the wall, about the same shape and size as an ordinary brick. A few minutes later, God showed me the scene again, but this time all I could see were the creature's eyes, far back from the entrance. All the rest of it was safely out of reach and out of view.
But what did this mean, exactly? Get ready to hide??? The ability to hide away is not a bad capability to have. Most American families only keep 3-4 days of food around the house. This corresponds with most grocery stores, which only keep a three day supply of food on hand. Our "Just-In-Time" supply system makes this the most efficient (read cheapest) way to do things. Less food space and refrigeration are taken up by unsold food = lower prices for everybody! But what happens when the weather closes the roads? What happens when the next virus closes the stores? What if there is a power failure, and Walmart is closed? What if there is civil unrest, and it is unsafe to be outside and you are out of toilet paper? Then what?
Friends of friends were living in the middle east during civil unrest many years ago. This couple had to lock the doors, turn out the lights, and pretend not to be home for a solid month. The only food they had on hand was a 50 lb bag of dates. This young couple ate nothing but dates for a month. It's all they had stored up. True story.
While each of us SHOULD cultivate the ability to stay home for a month without needing to go to the store, I don't think this was actually what the vision was about. I think it was a spiritual metaphor. (Or is it an analogy? I always confuse these two words. Where is an English major when you need one?) While I was considering the crawfish, a beautiful song came to mind. It was "Hide Myself in You," written by my friend Cynthia Daniels. You can listen to it on SoundCloud at https://on.soundcloud.com/bUDSWbXg7Q55ejRH7. Here are the lyrics:
Wrap your love around me.
Jesus wrap your love around me.
Wrap your love around me
As I hide myself in you.
Jesus I need you,
Save me from this mire.
I need your holy presence, Lord!
Fill me with your fire.
Wrap your love around me
Jesus wrap your love around me
Wrap your love around me
As I hide myself in you.
Father make me holy
to look upon your face.
I'm standing in your glory, Lord.
I want to walk in your ways.
Father wrap your love around me
wrap your love around me.
Wrap your love around me
as I hide myself in you.
As I hide myself in you.
As I think back to the little crawfish in the vision, several things come to mind. First the crawfish is an insignificant creature, from our standpoint. (Tasty too!) Do you ever feel insignificant? (It happens.) In Isaiah 40, quoting from The Message, God relentlessly hammers on our insecurity:
Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
or whine, Israel, saying,
"God has lost track of me.
He doesn't care what happens to me"?
Don't you know anything?
Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God LASTS.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath,
And he knows EVERYTHING, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon GOD get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind.
You know, as a Mantle Cell Lymphoma survivor, these last few lines on fatigue really resonate with me. My friends and I have a tremendous variety of symptoms, both before and after treatment. However, the one universal symptom seems to be extreme fatigue. We are not just tired, we are cancer tired. But God gives grace for that.
God hammers this particular nail of our insecurity even further in the next chapter, in verse fourteen, asking
Do you feel like a lowly worm, Jacob?
Don't be afraid.
Feel like a fragile insect, Israel?
I will help you.
What do little crawfish remind me of? Little worms in armor. Underwater insects. Yet in the vision, a hiding place was provided for the little creature when it became alarmed. Once it was safe back in its steel cave, nothing was going to get to it. It was fully protected. Yes the water was still murky. Predators were certainly in the vicinity. But it was safe, hidden away in the secret place. And that's what God is offering. A safe place to rest and hide, no matter how murky the water or how vicious the predators.
Wrap your love around me
As I hide myself in you.
Comments