In the summer evenings of my childhood, the kids in our neighborhood often gathered in someone’s yard after supper to play. With crickets providing the background music, we’d play games like capture the flag, statue, freeze tag and of course, assorted variations of hide and seek.
Sometimes we’d form teams to play hide and seek – you know, one team would hide and the other was supposed to come looking for them. I say, “supposed to come looking,” because if we were feeling especially saucy, as we occasionally were, those of us on the seeking team would simply decide not to seek.
We’d let the poor suckers on the other team hide … and hide … and hide … while we sat back and sadistically imagined them crouching in various dark and cramped places fighting off flocks of Indiana’s killer mosquitoes. No, it wasn’t a nice thing to do, and it was a clear violation of the International Rules of Neighborhood Games, but we didn’t care – we thought it was pretty funny and when you’re eight years old, funny counts for a lot.
Eventually, the hiders would realize that we seekers were not living up to our end of the deal and they would get ticked and come out. They’d find us lounging around “home base” and their righteous indignation would pour forth, which just made us laugh all the harder. They almost never thought it was very funny.
Why? Because it really is a drag to hide if no one is looking for you.
And I imagine it would be even worse to realize that no one is looking for you … or to you … or at you … even when you’re really trying to be found. Just ask God – I think He feels that way most of the time.
Lots of folks think God is hiding. They think He’s a puzzle too difficult to begin solving, a mystery too complicated to begin reading, an ocean too deep to stick their toes in. But He’s not. Yes, there are many mysteries about God and His ways we will never comprehend in this life. After all, if God were small enough to completely understand, He’d be too small to worship. But nevertheless, God invites us to know Him intimately, and that’s a mind-boggling, heart-warming invitation too tantalizing to turn down.
He says through King David, “… If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” (1 Chronicles 28:9)
And through the prophet Jeremiah, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
And through Jesus Christ, “… He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him.” (John 14:21)
God is not really hiding at all. He’s everywhere, all the time, in plain view, for all who choose to see Him. He’s the artist who painted and sculpted and crafted every beautiful thing we see. He’s the very definition and source of all the love that ever warms our hearts. He’s the One who composed the music of laughter and built us to enjoy it.
Sometimes I picture God standing at “home base,” waving his arms and calling, as we children did, “All-ee, all-ee in free!” He’s telling us it’s safe to come home and find Him … while He may be found (Isaiah 55:6). And when we do, we’ll discover He’s waiting with outstretched arms, so glad we’ve come back where the love is real and the laughter is blessed.