“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.”
(Psalm 91:1 ESV)
George MacDonald’s Reflections on the “Secret Place” of Psalm 91
Every time we turn on the news or swipe through headlines on our phones, we confront the sorrows of our world. In our own lives we have faced the effects a global pandemic, fractured relationships, and many other difficulties. Where can we go to find rest from it all?
George MacDonald[1] was no stranger to sorrow. His mother died when he was a child. As an adult, he lost his position as a pastor, and his young family faced poverty and hunger. Four of his children died of tuberculosis, an illness MacDonald himself battled most of his life.
Perhaps because of his own suffering, MacDonald identified with the suffering of others. In a letter to a friend who was dying of cancer, MacDonald described God’s nearness to him in sorrow. He wrote, “I think he has been with me in my pain, and never let it go beyond what I was able to bear. He knows all about it, and he would not be a perfect God if his sympathy were not perfect.”[2]
Through his letter, MacDonald pointed his friend to a place of shelter and rest in God’s presence. In the following poem, MacDonald does the same thing. He describes a “secret place” where the “tumult” of our circumstances cannot reach. This place remains still and calm despite our hot and cold emotions or the temptations we face. This place is what the psalmist called “the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1 ESV).
In the second stanza of his poem, MacDonald compares dwelling in God’s presence, to finding a deep oceanic cave, far beneath the surface of the water. This cave remains cool and still and peaceful even when “sea-winds madly blow and tear the scattered waves” (lines 9-10). MacDonald’s poem turns to a prayer as he confesses, “The wind of words may toss my heart” (line 13). He acknowledges that he is not impervious to criticism or conflict or troubling news. However, his sorrow is superficial compared to the deep, underlying peace he finds in God who is his “deep, still, resting sea” (line 16).
As you read MacDonald’s prayer-poem, reflect on who God is and how he demonstrates his constant care for you. Turn to Psalm 91 and consider what it means to dwell in God’s presence and to find rest in his nearness. God’s Word and his Spirit direct us to the “secret place” where we enjoy God’s presence and experience true rest for our souls.
“Rest (IV)”
Who dwelleth in that secret place,
Where tumult enters not,
Is never cold with terror base,
Never with anger hot:
For if an evil host should dare
His very heart invest,
God is his deeper heart, and there
He enters in to rest.When mighty sea-winds madly blow,
And tear the scattered waves,
Peaceful as summer woods, below
Lie darkling ocean caves:
The wind of words may toss my heart,
But what is that to me!
‘Tis but a surface storm—Thou art
My deep, still, resting sea.George MacDonald (1824-1905)
Prayer: Father, you are my refuge. In you I find safety, a place where I am quieted and still. Teach me to increasingly find my refuge only in you. By your Word and your Spirit, help me to know that you are near and that you are guarding my soul. Lead me into the rest that only comes from you. Help me to dwell in your presence and to learn by experience that you are “my deep, still, resting sea.” Thank you for your Son Jesus, who opened the way for me to enter into your rest.
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Sources
[1] George MacDonald: For more information about this author, check out this Christian History article here at Christianity Today.
[2] This quote is from a letter written by MacDonald in 1869 to his friend, the famous sculptor Alexander Munro. It was published in an article by Glenn Edward Sadler and can be found here.