Hide and Seek

Growing up, I and my sister were usually instructed to not leave the house to play outside. An instruction we, more often than not, disobeyed.

The order to not go and play outside wasn’t unique to our household. Most of my playmates usually got the same orders from their parents. So it was even more difficult obeying it when you were hearing your friends have the time of their lives (at the risk of a thrashing) while you were stuck inside doing next to nothing.

So on the days I and my playmates gathered enough courage to disobey orders and play outside, there would usually be someone looking out for any sign of an approaching parent. We all knew each other’s parents, so at the sight of any parent, the designated lookout would sound the alarm, and the child-rascal whose parent it was would show a clean pair of heels.

One day, while putting in a man-of-the-match performance in one of our backyard football games, the alarm sounded: my mom was approaching. Apparently, the alarm either came too late or I wasn’t fast enough. The long and short was we were caught. Understandably, my mom was very angry that we disobeyed her. But she was also hurt that instead of coming to welcome and help her with what she was carrying, we took off.

As an adult, I’ve thought about that incident a lot, and it’s striking how many of us never learn that running away from situations or problems never solve things – it may even make things worse.

This is especially true as it concerns our relationship with God. The first man ran and hid himself after he’d disobeyed God, and since then, man’s first instinct has always been to run away from God. But God doesn’t want His erring children to run from Him.

“And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, where art thou?”

(Genesis 3:9, KJV)

“Where are you?” was the question God asked Adam after he’d disobeyed God and then hid himself from God when he heard His sound in the garden. Of course this was a rhetorical question. God knew where Adam was. He knew that Adam had disobeyed Him. The question God was really asking was “Why are you hiding yourself?” Adam explaining why he was hiding confirms this.

Have you disobeyed God and are afraid of approaching Him or resuming fellowship with Him? God knows you’ve sinned. He’s wondering why you’re still hiding from Him. He longs to cover you with His forgiveness. This is a call to come before His Throne with boldness and find mercy and Grace.

Stop playing hide and seek with God. He knows where you’re hiding. He’s just wondering why you’re still hiding.