Hide and Seek

Hide and seek is always more fun when Dad plays. 

When my first two girls were little they would listen for   their dad's car to pull into the garage. That would then send them on a run, squealing, to find the perfect hiding place. He always came in and played along by asking where his two little girls were. 

My husband pretended to look for them under the couch and in the fireplace. They giggled until he found them.

This changed when a new baby arrived. Dad made a point of coming home for lunch every day that first week. 

The girls heard the garage door go up and they squealed. Dad came through the doorway but he went straight to find the new baby--he forgot to look for his daughters. 

After ten minutes I had to remind him that two little girls were hiding, waiting for him. They weren't giggling--they were hurt--to be forgotten. 

I sometimes try to hide from my heavenly father. I am no different from many of the people in the Bible. 

Adam made coverings from leaves and hid from God in the Garden of Eden, hoping God wouldn't notice his sin. That must have been a comical sight if it hadn't grieved God so much.

Jonah didn't want to do what God told Him to do. He thought he could just walk off the job by taking a boat headed in the other direction. God had such a unique way of pursuing him to get him back on track. 

King David's song in Psalm 139 tells us of the impossibility of hiding from God:

I can never escape from your Spirit!

I can never get away from your presence!

If I go up to heaven, you are there;

If I go down to the grave, you are there.

If I ride the wings of the morning,

if I dwell by the farthest oceans,

even there your hand will guide me,

and your strength will support me.

I could ask the darkness to hide me

and light around me to become night--

but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.

To you the night shines as bright as day.

Darkness and light are the same to you.

What a blessing to know that my heavenly father won't forget me, even with so many children. 

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

I can't even count them:

they outnumber the grains of sand!

Ever tried to count the grains of sand at the beach or the stars in the heavens? That is how many times God thinks about you. 

We can hide our face from God, push Him away, run away, turn our back on God or even dress in spiritual fig leaves. God doesn't forget us or give up. We are His children forever pursued by Him.