Hiding No Longer

“Quick, hide!” I said to my little brother as we heard mom pull up the driveway.  We had convinced her we were old enough at the ages of ten and seven to stay at home while she made a speedy trip to the Stop-N-Go up the street.  Once she left, we enjoyed our newfound freedom by running into the den and celebrating by jumping up and down on the sofa. With the pillows on the sofa bouncing in the air from our jumping, the natural progression moved to throwing the pillows at one another as our den became a fun-filled battleground. I don’t remember who threw the pillow that hit the lamp, but I can still see it crashing to the floor. And then, I heard the sound of mom’s car pulling into the carport.

I look back on that incident and realize how foolish we were in thinking that hiding was going to keep us from facing the consequences of our actions.  Did we really think that mom would never find us or the broken lamp on the den floor? I’m sure I was not thinking long term at that moment. 

In the first chapters of the Bible, we see a similar incident as the first created man and woman decide to hide when they hear God coming their way in the garden.  Earlier they had disobeyed his instructions and now they attempt to hide rather than come clean. Foolish right?  Did they seriously think they could hide in the garden from the creator of the garden?

Hiding seems to be the choice we continue to make throughout our lives.  We hide rather than admit to our own wrongdoings.  We hide as we judge others’ faults as worse than our own. We hide as we accumulate stuff to give us a sense of importance and security. We hide when we consume ourselves in the busyness of doing instead of making time for important relationships. We hide as we tear down others rather than address our own insecurities.

In the Genesis account, God comes to the garden to continue relationship, even as He has to call the man and woman out from hiding.  God knows that spending a life in hiding is really no life at all.

When playing the game of hide-and-seek as a kid, one tries to find the best hiding place and to be the last one found. But no child wants to be left alone in that hiding place after the game is long over.  Deep down inside, each of us desires to come out from our hiding and to live life completely in the open. Sadly, our fears and failures convince us that hiding is our only choice.

I’m glad we have a searching God who sees us and lovingly calls us out of hiding and into life.