You’re my place of quiet retreat; I wait for your Word to renew me. Ps 119:114 (MSG)

I'm an introvert, an INFJ (for all my ‘Myers-Briggs’ friends). I have hiding (hermit-ing) down to a fine art. There are days where my personality requires isolation until I am recharged and ready for human interaction once more. (And all the introverts said… )

There are some things that I can’t hide from, even in my introversion. I know all you extroverts (I’m married to one) sometimes want to hide too. Shut out the world. Take a break from the activity and hustle of earthly existence and find solace and peace – disconnect from the consumeristic, fear and greed driven marketplace world.

Fear gets to us all, regardless of our personalities. Some of us run to relationships to hide from it, others to work and success. More of us to substances and addictions… somewhere where we think it can’t find us.

But fear is an undetectable gas. No matter how hard we try to barricade ourselves from it, it finds the nooks and crannies, the cracks and creases in our lives and leaks in any way. That's why the pursuit of peace for the absence of fear is never satisfied. It’s like the ‘Terminator’ (those movies scared me to death… I can hear the theme music playing as I write this…) and pursues relentlessly. It’s evils pride and joy.

But there is one place fear cannot abide. An atmosphere that attacks it so viciously that it flees.

Ps 119:114 (NKJV) says, “You are my hiding place and my shield…”
1 John 4:8 says (NKJV) “…God is love.”
1 John 4:18 (AMP) “There is no fear in love, dread does not exist, but full-grown, complete and perfect love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!”

The presence of God is the presence of perfect love. Love so strong and capable, thick and unimaginable that dispels the grip of evil.

God is your place of quiet retreat, your hiding place, the shield of love that repels the fiery darts of fear. Don’t run from fear only to crash into it again in the very place you thought you’d find relief… relationships, money, work, greed, food, substances, religion, etc… But invite the presence of God into this moment. His love will hide you from fear, quiet the terror within and give you peace.