Maybe they didn’t know: We Cannot Hide from God!
It was quite a funny adventure to walk down the long aisle, while headed to the ladies’ restroom. Usually, I walk, weaving as I go, through the aisles, encountering various adults who are shopping for home-goods, but on this particular day, I found myself smiling, watching as she placed a pink bucket on her head.
- Have you ever hidden—out in the open?
- Have you even hidden—in plain sight?
On this particular day, I was not privileged to know the details that caused this elementary child to hide between the hanging sheets of paneling, and I was not given the reason why this little girl thought the pink bucket would obscure her presence. However, what was abundantly clear—SHE WAS HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT—and that is what I found quite funny.
As I sit recalling this recent memory, I find myself asking: Why is it that SIN makes us forget that we cannot hide from God? & Do we actually think our heavenly Father ever does not know where His children are?
Go with me, all the way back to the beginning, to the garden. See the first man. See his helpmate. Hear the LORD’S words:
“Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
(Genesis 2: 15-17 NASB)
The LORD God commanded the man, saying,
“From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,\
for in the day that you eat from it
you will surely die.”
If this historic event were a drama playing out on stage, the script would say: Enter the serpent, stage left. However, this is not fiction but fact.
Mankind really did allow Satan to twist the LORD God’s words.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made.
(Genesis 3: 1 & 4-5 NASB)
And he said to the woman,
“Indeed, has God [really] said,
‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
. . .
The serpent said to the woman,
“You surely will not die!
For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God,
knowing good and evil.”
- Maybe they didn’t know: We Cannot Hide from God!
- Maybe they didn’t know: God always knows where His children are.
- Maybe they didn’t recognize the truth: It’s the LORD God’s character to always be present with us.
Sit there, dwelling in those thoughts. Find comfort. Recognize the peace the LORD provides as we walk through our new day.
- Can we sense the magnitude of that simple statement?
- Can we feel the deep-abiding peace His presence brings?
God, our Father, will walk through the day with us.
- Rest in His promise.
- Dwell within His all-abiding presence.
May we never forget: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. . . .”
In my study of the Dutch language, I have discovered the phrase: “Ik zie je”—Dutch for “I see you, and as I write this blog, I sense how it’s God’s Truth: “Ik zie je.”
And so, it is best if we never forget how His creation cannot hide ourselves or our sins from the LORD God, for there is never a time that He does not see us!
Amazingly, when Adam and Eve listened to Satan’s lie and ate from the forbidden tree, the LORD could have swept them away with a great wind—OR—the LORD could have sent a hoard of poisonous serpents to bite at them—OR—the LORD could have struck them dead. But the LORD God, in His compassionate way, asked them a question.
“Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him,
(Genesis 3: 9 NASB)
“Where are you?”
- Can we sense the magnitude of the LORD’S simple question & feel the depth of Adam’s fear, knowing His LORD was near?
- Can we recall GOD’S promise to the man, how disobedience would bring death?
May we dwell within His Truth & May we always remember: It is God’s character to be present with us!
- It was the devil—Satan—who questioned God’s holy word.
- It was the serpent—Satan—who deviously questioned the LORD God’s intent & placed doubt in mankind’s mind.
- It was the enemy—Satan—who said (and I paraphrase), “Did God really say . . .?”
- It is the roaring lion, the one who wants to destroy—Satan—who tempts us to SIN.
- It is Lucifer, the father of lies—Satan who hates—Almighty God, the Father of Truth!
“Where can I go from Your Spirit?
(The Psalms 139: 7-8 NASB)
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.”
- There is not one square inch of this entire universe where we can ever hide from God. &
- There is not one square inch of the entire domain of human existence that God does not claim: “MINE!”
Amazingly, we read this historical account of “The Fall of Man,” and still we fall away, but praise God, He does not ever give up on us! Everything we have ever needed, the LORD has continued to provide, to be, and to fulfill.
THE SAVIOR IS ALL WE WILL EVER NEED! &
HE IS ENOUGH! & HIS PRESENCE IS ALWAYS WITH US!
GOD SENT JESUS TO PROVIDE THE WAY TO REDEMPTION, FOR HE KNEW FROM THE VERY BEGINNING—WE NEEDED A SAVIOR!
For it was Jesus Himself who said—
“He who believes in Him is not judged;
(The Gospel According to John 3: 18 NASB)
he who does not believe has been judged already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
So, as I watched that small child place the pink 5-gallon bucket on her head and step between the sheets of paneling, I found myself immediately remembering how—We Cannot Hide from God!
- Maybe the first man, Adam, didn’t know this truth.
- Maybe that’s why Adam and Eve hid themselves in the garden.
- Maybe they heard the LORD God walking along and feared HE would discover their SIN.
- Could it be, today, we have forgotten?
We Cannot Hide Our Disobedience from God!
- Would it not be best if we (INSTEAD) seek the LORD God with our heart, soul, mind, & strength?
- Shouldn’t we share with those surrounding us in this world—Who IT is Who is our strength, our stronghold, and our ever-abiding peace, even when we fail to do HIS will?
“Whom have I in heaven but You?
(The Psalms 73: 25-28 NASB)
And beside You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
But as for me,
the nearness of God
is my good;
I have made the Lord GOD
my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.”