Remember when you played hide and seek as a kid? The best part was being able to stay hidden and make it to base without being found. Except for the thrill-seekers, the rush of being found, escaping, and making it to base without being touched was the best! What happens when you aren’t found? This happened on a show I was watching the other night. A 5-year-old and a 15-year-old were playing hide and seek. The older sister chose not to find the younger one. It was a great plan for her because she wouldn’t have any responsibility for a bit. When she did go find her, the sad little sister told her “It’s a fun game except when you forget to find me and then it just hurts”. Hmmm, two things come to mind for me when I heard this. 1) God is always there but we must do the seeking; and 2) why do we hide, expect others to find us and when it doesn’t happen we sulk?
Did you know that for God this is not a game of chance finding? When I play hide and seek with my grands it’s all about letting them find me. They squeal with delight, chase me saying “you better run, I’m gonna get you” followed with laughter and tag me. What an awesome time for them and me. This teaches them that no matter what, they will always be able to find me. It brings joy to everyone involved. The same for God. He stands right out in the open with lights on and leaves clues all around for us. His word says if we seek Him with our heart and soul. "But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deut. 4:29) Over the past few years (especially the past year) I have been super busy and felt hidden from Him. Why? He didn’t go anywhere. Even though I prayed and read the Bible I was not seeking Him as my grands seek me when I play with them. Over the past few years but especially true for the past six months, I made being a seeker my priority, and now EVERYTHING IS CHANGING. I feel strong again, I feel like I have hope again, I like myself, I have confidence in Him not from others. I feel like I have my act together. It’s funny because this happens periodically over the years. I start blossoming into what He has called me into and then I hide. I ask myself why no one notices and get all hurt. This is my own doing in my mind because I wasn’t seeking Him as I should in those moments. He didn’t go anywhere, I chose to hide. It’s been a cycle I have allowed myself to go through over and over again in life. Why do we hide? For most of my life, I have allowed the enemy to tell me I wasn’t good enough and compared myself to others around me. You know how women are… We can always find the things we don’t like about ourselves and allow that to be what we focus on. SO WE HIDE! WHY? Because we have unreal expectations. Wives usually want their husbands to know exactly what they are thinking and what they are going through without saying a word. Let me tell you something, men are not going to do that. They are not mind readers. Ladies, just straight up tell them what’s going on so there are no games. You’ll thank me later. Are you hiding hoping to be found by your husband, friends, and family? Are you wanting another person to give you the words you need to feel loved and to grow? Comparing ourselves or belittling ourselves causes us to hide. But when we seek God first you won’t need this from our husband, friends, and family. God gives us strength, joy, love, confidence, and more. Everything should come from God. When you do this, you will be leaving clues to be found, build relationships, and help others.
When do we seek Him? God's Word tells us to seek Him while He can be found. We should seek God immediately. Confession time. I have said this before but I’m gonna share it again. There are times it’s hard for me not to put Todd before God. By that I mean, I am so consumed with making Todd happy so I feel loved that I don’t want to cause damage to the relationship by going to a room to write. Don’t be ridiculous. Todd would never be upset by me doing this. It’s something I allowed to happen over time in desperation for love because I kept hiding. In hiding my past hurts and trying to keep them from affecting the rest of my life, I caused these problems. Reality is, Todd has always loved me and always will. God has given us the tools to apply to this relationship to grow stronger and to help me heal from my past. God is far more important to me than Todd is. What?! That’s a crazy notion! Nope. It’s reality and I should have been here a long time ago. And Todd has been okay with it all along. He is my biggest support. Do you know how to seek Him? If you don’t know, first find a local church that will help build your knowledge and your spirit. Seek Him in Bible reading/study. Seek Him in prayer. Talk to Him and let Him speak to you. He will impress on you areas that need to grow and change. He will show you all the things He has planned for you. As we seek God, we will discover His will, His plans, and His blessings in newfound strength as we face adversity, and in the comfort of His presence as we communicate with Him in prayer. The world around us is changing. Are we going to seek Him and become stronger, be a disciple or are we going to hide in fear? Have you traveled to see how beautiful this world? If you haven’t traveled have you seen pictures of the oceans, mountains, rainbows, sunrise, sunset, and so much more. He is found in the beauty all around us. God isn't playing Hide and Seek with us. He is waiting to be found by those who seek Him.
He’s waiting for you. Ready, set, seek! Dear Lord, forgive me for not seeking you the way I should. Thank you for being right there out in the open for me to find you. Give me strength and wisdom to seek you daily in the world around me and in Your Word. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
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