August 22, 2018

Lessons From a Good Game of Hide and Seek

My kids and our nieces and nephews love to play hide and seek. They can play for hours, tirelessly. And they will look high and low, and try all kinds of tactics to find their little friend. They will search under the bed, in the shower, behind the curtains, behind the couch, under the table – they look everywhere. They rigorously search. They call out asking, “where are you?”, and then they listen closely to see if they can get the person hiding to reveal where they are located. And they just have the best time ever – they enjoy this game and this time to the fullest.

Scripture: “”You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” – Jeremiah 28:13

Observation/Application:
Finding God is a lot like a good game of hide and seek. We are not going to find God if we just look across the room an casually search. No, we have search high and low, but instead of looking behind the couch we have to look behind the words on the page. We have to look at what God is saying to us.

And just like our children calling out “where are you?”, we need to call out to God, in prayer and in praise, and then listen very closely for God to reveal himself to us. They listen so closely that they stop walking, hold their breath, and are completely still. That’s when I say, “See, I knew you could keep quiet for more than 3 seconds at a time.” But in the same way, when we call out to God, through prayer and praise, we need to listen that closely, stop what we are doing, remove ourselves from the noise, and be that quiet, and that still.

And the third thing I notice about my kids playing hide and seek is that they have the best time. They have so much fun. In our journey to finding God, and the truth, we should also enjoy our time that we are seeking. There is always that one kid who gets frustrated after 30 seconds of casually looking, and then throws his hands up when he can’t get anyone to reveal themselves because he can’t trick them into revealing where they are. Don’t be that kid. Be the one who has a blast, who searches rigorously, who calls out with faith that they will find what they are looking for. The Bible says to “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4), “Be glad in the Lord” (Psalm 32:11), “Rejoice in the Lord” (Philippians 3:1), “Rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16), “Do your acts of mercy with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:8), “Serve the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 100:2).

If we want to find God, if we want Him to be revealed, we need to be genuinely looking for him. We have to seek him like we are playing hide and seek. We need to search tirelessly. We need to enjoy the search. We need to call out to him. Let us seek the Lord with all of our heart. Let us call out to Him in prayer and praise. Let us delight in this time that we spend together, as brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

Prayer:
Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your Word this morning. We seek you first every morning. We don’t just search loosely across the room Lord, and hope to find you. We seek you with all of our efforts, with all of our hearts. We call out to you, we praise you, and we pray that you will reveal yourself to us. Let us call out to you like the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8, let us keep coming to you in prayer and praise, over and over and over. Fill us with joy and peace as we seek you Lord. Let us enjoy each and every day, and each and every moment. Help us to see your face in all that we do Lord, that our joy might be complete. We give you all the honor and glory, and praise, in Jesus mighty name. Amen.

Image courtesy of: Norte_it [Dario J Laganà]