Save Now Ministries

BLOG with Dr. Cliff Sims -  Hide and Seek

(A word of instruction. Click on the Scripture references as they appear in the blog and the verses will appear.)

Two of the oldest games in the world were both inaugurated in the Garden of Eden: “The Blame Game” and “Hide and Seek.”

In the first game after being confronted by God in Genesis 3:11, we see Adam blaming Eve for giving him the forbidden fruit and then Eve blaming the serpent for beguiling her. Bottom line, the implication is blaming God for putting us in the circumstances of trouble! Everyone at some time in their life has played that game.

However, I want us to look at the second game in which the outcome of “playing” can be dangerous and deadly.

We read in Genesis 3:8, that Adam and Even hid themselves from God following their disobedience to God’s command. As God walked in the garden, he called out to them, “Where are you?” Now, God is omniscient and “knows” all things. He didn’t say this because He didn’t know where they were, but because THEY DIDN’T KNOW WHERE THEY WERE!

This isn’t referring to physical location, but rather spiritual location.

In fact, God had told them if they disobeyed His command that they would surely die. Well, something did die after that tragic decision of disobedience. Their relationship died with God. Their spiritual nature that God had generously bestowed upon them had “died.”

God came into that garden “seeking” Adam & Eve because they had cut themselves off from His life-giving blessings. But they were hiding from God.

This is true for all of us. Yes, we are born physically with a nature inherited all the way back to Adam and Eve which is prone to rebellion and pride. There comes a time we all disobey God in some way or form. When that occurs, the same happens to us. We have hidden ourselves from the One Who made us...and we can’t find our way back to Him on our own terms.

God comes “seeking” but we are hell-bent on “hiding.” And most of us, if not all of us at some point in our lives, don’t realize that we are playing the game until we are separated, evidenced by confusion, desperation, misery, hopelessness, and a host of other repugnant conditions.

Hiding is a predominant principle in Scripture. (The word Hide/Hidden/Hiding occurs over 230 times in Scripture. About 100 X it is dealing with Hiding from God or God hiding from us) But we mostly see the “hiding” from God’s perspective – not ours... Let me explain:

While God does love us, we must look at some of God’s unique attributes in order to understand why He seems to be distant from us at various times in our lives.

First, God is not like us. He is immutable – He does not change, (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Hebrews 6:17-18) but people change. Because of changes that take place in our lives due to different mindsets, events, experiences, our perspective of God sometimes changes. But God hasn’t and doesn’t change.

Another attribute of God is that He is Omnipresent. This means He is not limited by time or space to a certain location. He is always everywhere. Of course, this is hard to understand, but when we realize that He is not like us (Being God) as we distance ourselves from people who may hurt us or disappoint us, God never distances Himself; He just seems to be “hidden” from us.

Perhaps you have heard or seen the phrase, “If God feels far away, guess who moved?” This is a somewhat accurate description of this issue. God didn’t go anywhere – Adam did! We did! Just as Adam hid from God, so do we.

Moses attempted to hide from God. See Exodus 3:6. Why? He was afraid – same as Adam – Genesis 3:10. Same as us! We sin and then we run and hide. We relocate spiritually to different places and withdraw from others. Different places meaning that which we attempt to fill our lives with hoping we don’t have an awkward and embarrassing meeting with God. Those “places” could be entertainment, hobbies, even family – but God and His convicting power is still there.

If only Adam could have had King David’s words he penned in Psalm 139... “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in the place of the dead, you are there...If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will  be night’ – even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.”  (v. 7-8, 11-12)

We glean from this passage God’s omnipresence, but also the fact that even though He may seem to be hidden, He is present, even when we attempt to hide from Him.

See Jeremiah 23:23-24

Elihu, the young man who addresses Job also speaks of God’s omnipresence and omniscience agreeing with David. (See Job 34:21-23)

The remainder of Chapter 139 reminds us of the love God has for those He has created and He knows us better than we even know ourselves.

Humanity has many questions... but few answers...

The paradox becomes real – instead of God asking, “Where are you...”  we ask God the same question when we find ourselves in a dark, desperate, and maybe even dangerous situation.

Three questions stand out in Scripture in relation to this condition:

1. Why (have you hidden your face)?

Isaiah 59:1-2 Our iniquities have separated us

Psalm 88:14 (David) “LORD, Why do you reject me? Why do you hide your face from me?”

Isaiah 1:15 “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen --- Your hands are covered with blood.” *

*Here in this verse and also in Ch. 59, Isaiah is calling out those who are “called by His name” who are going through the motions of religion but their hearts (and lives) are far away from truly serving God.

Job asks, “Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?  - Job 13:24

2. Where are you? If God seems to be hiding from you, where did you go? What did you do that has caused Him to seem to be missing from your life?
3. How long (will you hide yourself from me)?

We have several examples in Scripture of those who uttered cries in desperation asking God, “Why have you hidden your face from me?”

(sidenote) When we see this phrase or similar phrases we need to gain an understanding as the use of “face” for God. This is called an “anthropomorphism.” Yes, this is a BIG word. It comes from two Greek words:  “Anthropos” which is the word for “man.” You have heard of the word, “Anthropology” which means the “study of man.” The second word is “morpho” which means “form.” So, the word literally means “man form.”  Sometimes the writers of Scripture give God these “forms” for understanding. For example, “The arms of God” or “The finger of God” or “The mouth of God,” etc.

The Hebrew word for “face” means presence or countenance. So, the writer is experiencing the loss of God’s presence or familiarity when he uses this term.

David uses this in Psalm 10:1; 51:9; 27:9, and several other places in the Psalms.

Conclusion

So, what is the answer for us when God seems to be hidden? It’s rather simple. God doesn’t make it hard on us...but we make it complicated. Isaiah 59:1-3 - “Indeed, the LORD’s arm is not too weak to save, and His ear is not too deaf to hear. But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not listen. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies and your tongue mutters injustice.”

Two principles stand out to ensure God’s face will shine again in your life:

1. Seeking Him with all Your Heart
2. Turn on the Light

We must look/seek – search out. And before we do that we must agree with Moses in Deuteronomy 4:27-31 (Key verse 29) and Jeremiah 29:13 and, of course, Jesus in Matthew 6:25-33; 7:7-8.

How do we do this? How do we seek? His Kingdom must be THE top priority over everything in your life. God does not hide Himself from those who are earnestly seeking Him.

Look again at Psalm 139:23-24

I've often said in the last few years that the closer I get to the light, the more dirt I see...

I can remember my Dad saying, “let’s shed a little light on the subject...”

...God desires purity and holiness. Only He is pure and only He is Holy...but the closer we get, the more we can become like Him. The more we will see the Light... the more we will see Him.

God knows what we’ve said, thought, and done, but He loves us anyway. In fact, He longs to be in relationship with us. Just take a moment and glean the historical relationship God had with His own people – the Israelites (Jews). Time after time He waited on them. Time after time they disobeyed and moved farther away from the God Who loved them and put them above other people groups.

It’s the same today. God loves His children. Yet, just like the Jews, Christians today use God as the Jews did... as a “brand” or a “banner” rather than submit in obedience to Him as a Father and as Sovereign over all the universe.

Why? Because humanity loves the darkness. (Darkness is used in Scripture as a dimension of evil/wickedness or spiritual blindness.) See John 3:19

“The light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overtake it.” – John 1:5

See also  John 8:12;  John 12:35; 1 John 1:5;

Timothy 6:16;  John 1:18.

Seek Him with all your heart and mind &

Turn on the Light.

 

Cliff