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commanded and provided panoply of God as is the sword of
the Spirit. The reader will also remember that in Hebrews 11
there are two cases in which `faith' is identified with the act of
`hiding' - the hiding of the infant Moses, and the hiding of the
spies (Heb. 11:23,31; Exod. 2:2; Josh. 2:4).
`Hiding' does not necessarily indicate fear. In Psalm 27 David
says :
` The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is
the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?' (Psa. 27:1).
And yet, in the fifth verse of this same Psalm, he says: `In the
time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of
His tabernacle shall He hide me'.
In Psalm 31, which is in some respects parallel with Psalm 27,
we find David in great trouble. Nets have been spread for him,
he was a reproach among his neighbours, and forgotten like a
dead man out of mind. Slander and fear and adverse counsel
were on every side. In such a predicament he says, in verse 5:
`Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O
LORD God of truth'. And in verse 15 : `My times are in Thy
hand'.
Rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord which He had `laid up'
(the same word as `hide') for them that fear Him, the Psalmist
passes on from the thought of the `hidden' goodness, to that of
the `hidden' ones, and so he concludes:
` Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of
man: Thou shalt keep them secretly ("hide") in a pavilion from the strife of
tongues' (Psa. 31:20).