Hide or Seek?

When Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to hide from God. Shame and guilt are like that. However, God searched them out and covered their sin, in symbol with animal skins and in reality with grace and that animal’s shed blood. They found out that the God they were so afraid of offers forgiveness and mercy. They didn’t have to hide.

Job knew that. In one of the oldest stories from Scripture, this afflicted man was not aware of a specific sin, yet when he felt so alone and it seemed that God had abandoned him, he said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come to His seat!” (Job 23:3)

Instead of hiding from the scrutiny of God, Job wanted to come to His judgment seat. He wanted a hearing, and he knew that God would be fair. My devotional reading today says that Job’s attitude of seeking rather than hiding is indicative of true faith.

A person who knows, believes in, and trusts God realizes not only the futility of trying to hide from Him, but the imperative of seeking His face. Who but God can forgive and cleanse sin? Who but God can help us out of the messes we get ourselves in and give us direction when we are confused?

David said, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). He knew that God is omnipresent. Who can hide from Him?

Yet in sinfulness, I’ve tried. Or at least I’ve hidden behind busyness, excuses or finger-pointing. These things are so silly. Even a to-do list a mile long will not stop God from zooming in on my heart and getting my attention. Excuses as thick as the hide of an elephant cannot prevent Him from seeing right through me. Shifting the blame for my sinful foolishness does not deflect the deep conviction produced by the Holy Spirit. Like David, I know that I cannot hide from God.

The alternative is seeking Him. Knowing that He never leaves, never forsakes me does not negate the sometimes sense that He is gone. Job felt that and said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him. . . .” yet within a few verses, he also says this:

Look, I go forward, but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; when He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

Odd this sense of both knowing He is here and feeling that He has abandoned me. One comes from the Holy Spirit who lives inside me to assure me of the truth; the other comes from my flesh which is determined to walk by sight and not faith. Of course these two are in conflict with one another. One is true and of God; the other is not.

Job’s sense of God was the same as all those who trust in Him. He knew that despite his current feelings, the purposes of God for his life would stand firm. God was determined that this man be restored to the image in which he was created. God would use the trials of life, including this great trial in Job’s life, to reshape and restore him, and Job knew it.

In Job’s case, there was no sin from which he felt he had to hide or conceal. Sometimes my troubles are not so innocent, yet I experience the same sense of knowing God is with me and at work in my life, even when it feels as if He has abandoned me.

In such situations, there is no use hiding. God knows the way that I take too, and when I seek His face and ask His forgiveness, His purpose for my life is back on track. Far better to hasten that process than try to hide from the God who is always with me.