Month: October 2018

Hide and Seek

They started out with peekaboo. Such a simple game – disappear, reappear – but it was endlessly entertaining for my children. When they were a little older, they thought if they closed their eyes, I couldn’t see them. I remember a lot of laughter as they tried to figure out how I could know so much when they were “invisible”. It wasn’t long after that they moved on to hide and seek. I remember their delight in hiding and their tiny giggles giving away the spot. “Stumping” the adult was the beginning of the fun – there was still all the anticipation and dramatic thrill of being discovered, and then the satisfaction of being the seeker.

We get older and we have neither time nor patience for games. We outgrow our enjoyment of hide and seek. We still hide, although often out of fear of being found out. And we grow weary of seeking when Google and Amazon deliver instant results. But the world can never deliver what we need most.

David wrote, “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1). The gracious presence of God is our deepest longing. We’re searching for it all the time, whether we know it or not. Just like a child seeking a parent, we yearn for the joy of finding.

But sometimes God feels far off. Sometimes we can’t seem to find Him. We want to believe He will come through, but when? Where is He now? This is when anxiety pushes out joy and fear menaces. We can hear it in some of David’s other writing – “Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief” (Psalm 22:1-2). “In sudden fear I cried out, ‘I have been cut off from the Lord!’” (Psalm 31:22)

Maybe you know this kind of desperate searching. We need not fear that God has abandoned us or gone away forever. He is not beyond finding. He promises that if we seek Him, we will find Him.

“In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord.  ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:12-13

So don’t give up. When what you’re searching for doesn’t come to you right away, take heart and have hope. Remember where you found God in the past and look for Him again there. Listen for His giggles from behind the curtain letting you know where He is. He won’t stay hidden for long.

God actually says that His Kingdom is full of the childlike (Matthew 19:14). The child playing hide and seek doesn’t fear being lost forever. They don’t worry that the parent will never be found. Instead they’re free to enjoy the search and delight in the rediscovery of one another again and again.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 NIV

I love this verse. I’ve loved this verse since very early in my Christian walk. It speaks to endurance and triumph over adversity, living well in spite of challenges and obstacles. It’s reviving for my spirit.

Except when it isn’t. On those days when I’m stumbling along, weary and downcast. What should I make of those days? Does it mean I’m doing it wrong? If I only had enough faith, enough trust, knew the right words to pray, would I be able to unlock the power of this verse? I think the enemy would like us to believe that. He’s very happy to see you crying in the corner, thinking that you missed out on the promises of God because of some fault.

Don’t get me wrong, we all fall short. We all miss the mark. We’re all not enough to meet the demands of holiness. But that’s no longer our problem. God assumed responsibility for our debt. As a matter of fact, He said we don’t even need to bother attempting to make a payment because all we have to offer is used kleenex and dirty diapers. Instead it’s a free gift of grace, completely undeserved, 100% sufficient.

It’s an unpopular truth that we will all stand before the throne to give an account. I think it’s unpopular because we don’t like the idea of judgment – who wants to be reminded that we’re less than perfect?  But there’s a picture of this in Zechariah 3:1-4 that shows us what it’s really like, and should be a great comfort to us.

Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. Satan was there at the angel’s right hand, accusing Jeshua of many things. And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from a fire.” Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” Zechariah 3:1-4

This is what we can expect when we stand before our holy God. Not judgment. Not rejection. “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). It isn’t that we skip our appearance before the King, but that we have nothing to fear from Him. Because while there is an Accuser, there is also an Advocate – “There is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:1-2).

Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us. Romans 8:33-34

Your tears, your failures, your shortcomings, your weariness are not signs that you’re doing it wrong. They’re to be expected. They’re part and parcel of living with an enemy in a sin-corrupted world. He wants to wear you out, trip you up, run you down. But the voice of accusation is not the voice of God. The one who shames you for falling short is not the Savior. The one who says you’re not good enough, you’re not doing it right, you’ve missed the mark, is not the one you should listen to.  God has rejected the accusations against you and rebuked the Accuser who makes them.

We don’t need to do anything differently. We need Jesus. We need Jesus. We need Jesus.