We hide, we are hiding, and often remain hidden. Hide, hiding, and hidden.
i think, these days, many of us are hiding from God, but, you know, it’s not a childs game, and there’s no laughing and giggling to it all anymore. i do believe what was cute when we were two years old will get our hide tanned when we are 10. We may smear the food through our hair when we’re 12 months old and everyone thinks it’s cute, but if we do that when we’re 10 years old, i’d guess it would not go well for us.
Genesis 3:8-10, “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
When we’re hiding, we’ll do almost anything to keep from being honest. i’ve often thought fear and dread were the close friends of hiding, especially when we’re on the outs with God. Honestly, most of the things we hide about, really are small, but for whatever our reasons, rightly so or not, we are ashamed. We are sure that if we were God we’d be furious with us also, but that’s not the heart of God.
Adam and Eve were the first to be afraid and also the first to hide from God, and we the people, have been being afraid and hiding ever since. They heard God, were afraid, recognized their condition, and took action on it by hiding. i wonder how things would have been different for us all and God if Adam and Eve had simply confessed their wrong to God, on the spot?
Can you imagine the shame and regret Adam and Eve lived with after all that? They lived in a perfect creation which God had made, they had perfect minds and bodies, and lived in perfect fellowship with God. The lived the life of having a continuous every day walk around conversation with God and all that was in the Garden. And not only did they spoil it all for themselves but also for everyone else too. Their wrong choices paved the way for disease, decay, death, and separation from God. My guess is they had never seen disease, decay, and could not even imagine separation from God, but there it was, in their faces. The shame and regret must have been huge. They must have lived the rest of their lives in regret—after all, i’m fairly certain they remembered paradise.
Many are afraid of being seen for who they are, quite probably we recognize our condition to some degree or another, and we hide, swearing to everyone nothing is as it appears, all the while we absolutely loathe the word “why”. We assure others, “it’s all just a misunderstanding”, “Nothing is like you think”, “It’s not really that way”, or playing our victim card and putting it all back on everyone else, “Oh, your so mean and judgmental, besides who are you to tell me anything?” i believe we hide for any number of fears and shames, like when we know we are swallowed up in the cares and riches of this world, or we are painfully aware of the scandal of our bad example to others. Maybe the Lord makes us highly aware of the eddys and currents of our thoughts which are hostile to life in Christ and hostile to God’s holiness.
Probably, the most common reason for hiding is our lack of faith expressed as our unwillingness to believe. Sometimes i feel like doubt is hiding in my closet somewhere in the back. When i’m honest before the Lord, i must admit that the reason i’m having a hard time is because of simple unbelief, and i’m ashamed of that, thus i pretend i’m hiding from His sight. Note that i’m only pretending, because nothing hides from the sight of the Lord.
We say we’re being honest and transparent, maybe even swearing an oath that what we say is the truth. i’ve thought to myself, “An oath is only as good as the person behind it.” On the other hand, sometimes i just don’t believe mankind could live with one another if there was no mutual confidence on some level that they were being truthful with one another.
Most of us love to tell others we live in a culture of honor, i’ve said it myself. But between myself and God, i’ve realized my lack of honesty doesn’t really support a culture of honor. Proverbs 15:33 says “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.” Is it possible our lack of humility prevents us from the honesty we so desperately need in order to truly live in a culture of honor?
i’d like to stop my hiding ways. God is not hidden, we are the ones who are hidden. i think sometimes, we’ve hidden ourselves so well we can’t even find ourselves.
Isaiah 49:9 has a phrase which really jumps out at me, he says “show yourselves”. i say “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name.