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.
Showing posts with label hiding from God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiding from God. Show all posts
Monday, May 21, 2018
Monday, January 25, 2016
Darkness and Fear ............. Parables 384
August 29, 1993
“I was too scared to go down the dark one...” said 12-year old Angie, after a visit to West Edmonton Mall’s Water park. She loved the water slides and wasn’t intimidated by their height nor steepness, but the darkest tunnel slide was too dark. No matter how much her brothers coaxed her, she refused to try it.
James and Joey couldn’t understand her fears. “There is nothing to be afraid of,” they insisted. Many parents say the same thing when their children want lights on and doors left open. They know childish monsters exist only in a child’s imagination. But children are not much different than adults. We tend to fear whatever darkness might conceal, not darkness itself. If there are enemies or dangers, we prefer both to be visible, out in the light.
Several hundred years before Christ, Plato remarked, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
Whatever Plato meant, I can think of several possible applications. One of them is the not-so-funny fear of looking at one’s self in the mirror in full sunlight, a phobia that materializes some time after a person’s thirtieth birthday.
Perhaps a more crucial fear is that of examining our prejudices. Sometimes we prefer hiding them because we may discover we were wrong. It is difficult to either live with error or change our minds, so we would rather not bring those biases to light.
Light and dark are symbolized somewhat differently in the Old Testament. Darkness is associated with a life of sin and ignorance; light with righteousness and goodness. Jesus added even more dimension to these symbols when He declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”
Jesus Himself is Goodness and Righteousness, true Light that came into the world to expose and set us free from all the hidden elements of sin’s darkness. He shed light on the human idea that sin is something we do by saying it goes much deeper; it is an attitude of the heart. Such hidden sin must be exposed, never covered by a show of “good” deeds.
Jesus’ explanation of sin was not popular then or now. The religious leaders of His day made a show of piety and were what we might call “good, God-fearing people.” Jesus said they were hypocrites because their deeds were motivated by hearts that were not right.
In this context, Jesus uncovered a third fear related to light and darkness. He said, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19).
Notice, He was not talking about those who are afraid of what darkness hides, but people who love the dark itself, a far more serious problem. He gave this reason: “Men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (vs.20)
He is referring to people whose attitude toward sin is contrary to Scripture’s teaching. The Bible says those who cover their sin will not prosper. Sin is our worst enemy, the very cause of eternal death. Besides, since light represents for more than goodness or spiritual enlightenment but Jesus Himself, then everyone who does evil hates Jesus, and will not come to Him fearing He will expose their evil deeds.
That means sliding further into darkness regarding the nature of sin and darkness and disregarding the only One who can overcome it.
“I was too scared to go down the dark one...” said 12-year old Angie, after a visit to West Edmonton Mall’s Water park. She loved the water slides and wasn’t intimidated by their height nor steepness, but the darkest tunnel slide was too dark. No matter how much her brothers coaxed her, she refused to try it.
James and Joey couldn’t understand her fears. “There is nothing to be afraid of,” they insisted. Many parents say the same thing when their children want lights on and doors left open. They know childish monsters exist only in a child’s imagination. But children are not much different than adults. We tend to fear whatever darkness might conceal, not darkness itself. If there are enemies or dangers, we prefer both to be visible, out in the light.
Several hundred years before Christ, Plato remarked, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”
Whatever Plato meant, I can think of several possible applications. One of them is the not-so-funny fear of looking at one’s self in the mirror in full sunlight, a phobia that materializes some time after a person’s thirtieth birthday.
Perhaps a more crucial fear is that of examining our prejudices. Sometimes we prefer hiding them because we may discover we were wrong. It is difficult to either live with error or change our minds, so we would rather not bring those biases to light.
Light and dark are symbolized somewhat differently in the Old Testament. Darkness is associated with a life of sin and ignorance; light with righteousness and goodness. Jesus added even more dimension to these symbols when He declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”
Jesus Himself is Goodness and Righteousness, true Light that came into the world to expose and set us free from all the hidden elements of sin’s darkness. He shed light on the human idea that sin is something we do by saying it goes much deeper; it is an attitude of the heart. Such hidden sin must be exposed, never covered by a show of “good” deeds.
Jesus’ explanation of sin was not popular then or now. The religious leaders of His day made a show of piety and were what we might call “good, God-fearing people.” Jesus said they were hypocrites because their deeds were motivated by hearts that were not right.
In this context, Jesus uncovered a third fear related to light and darkness. He said, “Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19).
Notice, He was not talking about those who are afraid of what darkness hides, but people who love the dark itself, a far more serious problem. He gave this reason: “Men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” (vs.20)
He is referring to people whose attitude toward sin is contrary to Scripture’s teaching. The Bible says those who cover their sin will not prosper. Sin is our worst enemy, the very cause of eternal death. Besides, since light represents for more than goodness or spiritual enlightenment but Jesus Himself, then everyone who does evil hates Jesus, and will not come to Him fearing He will expose their evil deeds.
That means sliding further into darkness regarding the nature of sin and darkness and disregarding the only One who can overcome it.
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