The Secret Place

In the Song of Solomon the Beloved (representing Jesus the Bridegroom) says to the Shulamite (us, the church, the bride of Christ).

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret places of the cliff,
Let me see your face,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is lovely.” (Song of Solomon 2:14)

The Beloved, prior to saying that, said to her “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.” (Song of Solomon 2:10b) Therefore, we can say He was calling her UP and AWAY. That is exactly what Jesus is doing right now in the lives of His church, the bride. He is calling us to rise up and come away with Him. He is forever calling us to new heights in the Spirit. As a Father He is primarily interested in our spiritual development.

The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:12-14

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.“

Paul realized one major key to spiritual growth was “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” We must do this with the good and the bad. If we are to go up and away we cannot hold onto the baggage of the past. Ask anyone who has hiked a big mountain like Everest and they will tell you that they only carry what is absolutely necessary. Anything more would become a hinderance. In fact, we see this in a beautiful passage in Hebrews.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1)

Notice there is a distinction between “weight” and “sin.” There are things that can be a hinderance to us and not actually be sin. We must be careful to weed those things out of our lives if we are to run the race before us.

Back to the secret place. Moses had a powerful encounter with God where He saw God’s glory in the cleft of the rock.

Moses asked God “…Please, show me Your glory.”

Then He said, ‘I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. ”And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.'” (Exodus 33:18-20)

Now, if Moses saw God’s glory in the cleft of the rock and Jesus the Bridegroom Jesus calls us to that place what would stop us too from going there? The only thing stopping us is us. Jesus is calling His bride to abide in the secret place, the place of intimacy with Him. Notice, in Song of Solomon what He said to her (and us!)

“Let me see your face,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is lovely“

Do you believe your face is lovely and your voice is sweet to Jesus? We are not talking about the natural here. Your face is your countenance. It is where your gaze is. Your voice is who you are as a person. Our voices only reflect what’s in our hearts. Jesus loves the real you. Let Him know your innermost thoughts and desires. He is waiting in the secret place for you. One more passage.

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:6-7)

We learn here that God “is in the secret place” and that He “sees in secret.” You might rightly point out that God is Omnipotent (He is everywhere) and thus He sees everything. You are correct. But we are talking about God seeing in secret in the sense of what grabs His attention. Say you are in a supermarket full of people. All of the sudden a baby cries and it grabs you attention and you look in the direction of the baby. Now, you still “see” the other people, shopping carts, food but your full attention is now on the crying baby. This is the same with our Father. He sees all but we grab His special, undivided attention in the secret place.