We had a guest speaker this morning at church who said something I wanted to share with you guys. He was telling the following story about his five kids:
We live out on a bit of acreage and the kids and I were playing hide and seek one day. I thought of a pretty good place to hide, so off I went. After a while I started to wonder if they were ever going to find me, so I started making some noise. More time past and I started calling out, trying to give away my position so that the kids might find me. It wasn’t my intention to hide forever; I wanted to see the looks on their faces when they found me. Eventually I thought I had better go and give myself up, as it was clear they were not going to find me. I went back towards the house and found all five kids playing in the sandpit [sandbox for the American brethren...]! They’d given up looking and decided to play something else!
He then went on to explain how God spoke to him through this experience. At the time, he and his church were feeling like God had left them, like they weren’t able to feel His presence anymore, and he said that this really made him think. God, he said, doesn’t hide from us, He hides for us! He wants us to search (sometimes I think the journey with God is almost as important as the destination). He wants to see the look on our faces when we discover Him in some new place, somewhere we never would have thought to look while He was with us*. I really wanted to share that with you guys and pass along this word of encouragement. Sometimes it feels like God has left us, that we can’t find Him. Sometimes we go on searching and searching and turn up nothing. If that’s the way you’re feeling right now, don’t stop looking! Don’t give up and just go and play in the sandpit! Don’t go back to what you know, to what’s easy. Keep searching, keep looking for Him in places you might never have considered looking before. And always remember - He wants to be found! And when you find Him, oh boy! That’s when the fun really starts! ‘Nuff said.
*Obviously He’s always with us, but you know what I mean!
3 comments:
I like it! Yes, sir, I do!
Isaiah 45:15
"Truly, you are a God who hides Himself,
Oh God of Israel, the Savior.
Hiding is not always bad, as limited humans usually seem to think. After all, which, to us, is more tempting - something openly displayed and obviously very good, or something mostly hidden, with just the tiniest hint of amazingness peeking through? Isn't this curiosity something God builds into us so that we'll look for him? I'm inclined to think so...
There is nothing the human mind desires more than mystery. Always feed the human mind mystery.
Blackthorne?
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