A hiding place ............. Parables 744

February 12, 2002

Little Beth likes to hide from her mother. She crawls under a bed or behind the clothes in a closet and almost holds her breath when she hears her mother looking for her. This cute behavior is not so cute when the family is shopping. Beth finds a rack of clothes or a counter and crawls in to hide. Her parents become frantic. No matter how much they call or what they say, Beth sits quietly until they discover her hiding place.

When my children were small, they often ran ahead of me. No matter how I called, they kept going, but when I turned and began walking the other direction, they panicked. Instead of continuing to tease me, they became fearful. They thought I was leaving them so turned around and ran as fast as they could to catch up to me.

Supposedly, we are born with only two fears: falling and loud noises. If it were not for children like Beth, we could add the fear of abandonment. Nevertheless, this fear might not be innate, but most of us pick it up fairly soon.

Actually, fearing that people will abandon us has a positive potential. For one thing, it motivates us to build close relationships. We do not want to be left alone. Our nature as human beings tends toward gregariousness. We may learn to fear people and fear being hurt, but we still want to draw close to others. Even Beth loves the care and attention her parents give her.

Adam and Eve enjoyed a close relationship with each other too. The Bible says they were “naked and not ashamed.” They had nothing to fear so they never hid anything from each other. They also had a close, fearless relationship with God, but that was before sin entered the picture. After that, they were afraid of God. Genesis tells how it happened and how they tried to hide from Him.

The rest of Scripture shows how we have playing that same game since Eden. On one hand, we want to bring ourselves, our problems and our sins to the only One who truly accepts us as we are. On the other hand, we do not want His help us with our problems nor do we want to admit we have sin and need forgiveness, so we hide from God.

The hiding places are imaginative. Some people decide God does not exist, making Him easy to avoid; for them, He is not real. Like children, they shut their eyes and think that makes them invisible and God too. Others hide by saying God does not care, so they can dismiss their sin, or rename it. They are free to do whatever they wish. If He is not concerned, why should they care?

People hide behind masks too. Pretend I am strong; I don’t need help. Pretend I am righteous; I don’t need grace. Pretend I never make mistakes; I don’t need forgiveness. Or pretend I am religious . . .

All religious systems have rules and keeping them supposedly pleases God. Hiding in a religion makes us appear to be close to God and if we can pick a religion with rules compatible to our comfort zone, we can hide from God and yet not appear to be hiding.

The gospel unmasks and uncovers our hiding places, even the religious ones. It says no one is saved by good deeds, rule-keeping, or being “saintly” because God is not impressed. He sees the heart and His standard is Christ. Do we dare measure ourselves against Jesus?

None of what we do either brings us into a relationship with Him or hides us from Him. As the psalmist says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

Instead of hiding from Him, God invites us to hide in Him. Lord, my favorite chorus combines two verses from Your Word: “You are my hiding place, You always fill my heart with songs of deliverance, whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You . . .”

Like a loving parent, He never stops longing for us to stop running away and come to Him. Regardless of whatever we fear or want to cover up, we can hide ourselves in His love.