Key Bible Verse: You are my hiding place (Psalm 32:7). When I am afraid, I put my trust in you (Psalm 56:3). Bonus Reading: 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Michael sat on his bed in a rented room in Tucson, Arizona. With guitar in hand and Scriptures open before him, he experimented with setting part of Psalm 32 to song. At 27, Michael Ledner was on fire for God—but also separated from his wife of nearly ten years, and feeling rejected. Writing "You Are My Hiding Place" in an hour or so was cathartic. He recorded it, put the tape on a shelf, and ignored it for nearly a year.

"I'd be in congregations sharing songs, but I didn't do anything with that song," he says. "It has words I felt were not real manly: hiding, afraid, and weak. Later I realized that we all hide. What's important is what we do with that. When I'm afraid, I can try to do something in my own strength to make me feel strong, or in weakness I can go to the Lord and really be strong in Him."

When his publisher learned about the song and released it, people immediately identified with it. Eventually, Michael says, he realized, "Hey, it's honest, good, and manly even, to sing that."

—Phil Christensen & Shari MacDonald in Celebrate Jesus

My Response: What do I do when feeling inadequate or rejected?

Adapted from Celebrate Jesus (Kregel, 2003) by permission.

Chorus for the Week

You are my hiding place.
You always fill my heart with songs
of deliverance, whenever I am afraid.
I will trust in you, I will trust in you.
Let the weak say I am strong in the strength of the Lord.
—Michael Ledner (©1981, CCCM Music, administered by Maranatha! Music)

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