Those on a spiritual journey often are called seekers, and there is some truth in that. After all, Jesus said that if we seek we will find, and Jeremiah 29:13 tells us that we will find God when we seek Him with our whole heart. So it may at times seems like God is playing a game of hide and seek with us and that we're "it." But we've got it backwards when we feel that way. God has always been "It." It is He who has always sought us out and provided a way for us long before the idea of trying to find Him is even on our radar. The act of seeking Him is more than we make a choice to stop hiding and come out where we can be found rather than having to search out a hidden God.
God is not hidden. The earth and the heavens declare His glory. You can not go through the day without seeing something that declares that He is, unless you want to. We have hearts that choose at times not to "see" God, because we don't want to. We're like little children afraid of the dark who shut their eyes as tightly as possible in the superstitious belief that if we can't see what we're afraid of, we can't be seen. Hiding is what we do, not what God does.
Hiding from God is a natural by-product of sin. The first thing that Adam and Eve did after the very first act of sin is try to cover themselves, their nakedness and their shame, which is a form of hiding. Then they literally hid themselves from God. God shows up calling, "Adam. Adam. Where are You?" It always seemed strange to me that God would ask that. After all, He knew exactly where they were. You can't hide from God. Except that you can.
God allows our hiddenness. The kind of relationship and presence that God desires to have with us can't be forced or coerce, even by God. So He gives us the free choice to be known and to know or not to be. Metaphorically, God covers His eyes and allows us to run and hide. But He never stops there. He says that He wants to have a relationship with us that He will be "It" and follow us into the very depths of hell on earth to call us safely back to Him.
Adam and Eve's story is our story. We hide because we don't want to expose the brokenness and darkness within us. We hide in our fear and our shame. We hide because of fear that if we are ever truly transparent, seen and known we will no longer be accepted and loved. We hide from God, from others, and even from ourselves. If we hide well enough, if we make a good enough disguise, we might get away with our hiding, and others may accept us. But deep inside is that voice that if people only "knew" who we really are, how we truly feel and think, that they would never like us, much less love and accept us. So we go through life wanting love, receiving love, and all the while thinking and feeling that love can't be real because they aren't loving the real us, the hidden us. They don't know who we are. We can play the hidden in the game of hide and seek that even we ourselves can forget for a while who we are.
But God knows. He only allows us to deceive ourselves into believing we are hidden. He calls for us. "Where are you?" He asks, like a parent playing hide and seek with a child, looking everywhere but behind the couch where they know the child is hiding. Daddy is waiting and hoping for that moment when we will burst out and say, "Here I am!" He already knows that brokenness and darkness we want to hide better than we do. He still loves us. He still accepts us. And He promises that if we will stop hiding, and by that act of moving out of hiding toward Him become the "seeker" that He won't hide Himself from us. He will always allow us to come to Him.
Let us stop hiding from God and ourselves. If we are tired of the brokenness and the darkness, if we are sick and tired of being sick and tired and filled with bitterness and bad attitudes and shame, then we can stop playing hide and seek with God and with ourselves, and even with others. Not only will He smile and say, "Ah there you are!" He will take us in His arms and show His love to us, and He will heal our brokenness and remove our shame.
Unshackled Life Ministries is grateful for every person that reads the daily Unshackled Moments and or listens to the messages. I want to thank those who have clicked "like" on something that blessed or ministered to them. It is encouraging to know that God is using this ministry to help and bless others. Please remember that if God used something from this ministry to help, encourage or bless you, it could also bless someone else. Would you help get the devotions to more people by sharing the Moments and messages that you read or listen to? Hitting the share button instead of or in addition to the like button will help us reach more people with the good news of freedom and the encouragement to live an Unshackled Life. Thank you and God bless.
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