Hide & Seek

Usually a game of hide and seek with my three year old is a little haphazard.  When it’s his turn to hide, I find him in one of maybe three very obvious spots – beside the sofa, in my closet, or with his head under my pillow (yeah, just his head).   Sometimes he can’t even wait for me to find him.  When he hears “TEN!”, he runs out with a squeal.  “Here I am!” he exclaims.

When it’s my turn to hide, I’m a little bit more creative with the hiding spots.   However, his patience and perseverance in the seeking is a little lacking.  I hear the pitter-patter of his feet running from room to room, then a sudden, “Mommy, where are you?  I can’t find you!”

“I’m hiding!” I call from inside the shower.

“But I don’t see you,” he responds.

“Listen to my voice and come find me,” I yell.

Pitter-patter.  Pitter-patter.

“Can you find me?” I call again.  He’s only three – gotta give him a little help.

Pitter-patter.  Swoosh!  The shower curtain flies open with gusto.

“There you are, Mommy!  I found you!” he shouts proudly.

Even though he couldn’t see me, my son was able to find exactly where I was by listening to the sound of my voice.   I knew where he was the whole time.  It was up to him to listen and find me.

Sometimes it can seem as if God were hiding, right?

“God, where are you?  I can’t find you!”

“Listen to my voice and come find me,” He answers.

Listen.  How?  It’s not like He’s going to yell to me from behind the shower curtain.

I once was talking to a young woman about the Lord.  Although she had heard about God and about His gift of eternal life, she was not ready to trust Him as her Savior.  I asked her why she wasn’t ready.

“Oh I don’t know,” she said.  “I heard an illustration that God is like a father who’s lost his child in a store.  He’s searching up and down the aisles, calling the child’s name frantically, until He finds her.  I’ve never heard Him.  I guess He just hasn’t found me yet.”

Less than two hours before, we had both heard a speaker explain God’s love for us and His desire for everyone to come to Him for salvation.  I knew God was calling this lost child’s name.

“Well, that’s a nice illustration,” I told her.  “But have you ever considered that maybe God has found you?  In fact maybe He’s right behind you in the store, calling your name.  You just have to turn around and find Him.”

John 10:27-28 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (ESV, italics mine)

God is not hard to find.  In fact, when it comes to salvation, He’s more like my son.  “Here I am!” He beams through creation.  “Here I am!” He calls through His Word.  “Here I am!” He shouts through His grace and blessings in our lives.  He’s made it easy to find Him.  But it’s up to us to follow Him.

I think the same is true for those of us who already know Jesus as our Savior.  Sometimes circumstances in our lives make us wonder where God is.  “Where are you, God?” we shout, when we lose a loved one.  Or when our income is suffering.  Or when a prayer continues to go unanswered.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but Matthew 7:7-8 says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks find, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (ESV)  According to this verse, if we ask, He will answer.  If we seek, we will find.  Keep at it.  I think there is an element of action in this verse, and in the whole of our Christian lives as well.  The verse doesn’t say, “Sit around and you will find.”  Even when it’s hard, I think we need to keep seeking.  Don’t be like my three-year-old – be patient; be perseverant.

God’s not hiding just for the fun of it.  We know he will answer.  After all, He knows we’re only human – gotta give us a little help!  He knows where we are the whole time.  Let’s listen and find Him.

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