Don’t Play Hide and Seek

A mom is outside tending to the family garden, leaving her five-year-old son alone indoors. The little boy is playing with his toys when he realizes that the glass tray of recently-baked cookies has been left unattended. He steps up in a chair, attempting to reach the delectable dessert while he has the opportunity, but the container is beyond his reach. He tries to grab the cookies but fails; they rush towards the ground, and the tray shatters upon impact, leaving the boy mortified. In fear of his mistake being found out, the boy flees the scene, hunkering down in the corner of his closet, out of sight, where he hopes he will not be caught. 

This is a familiar story. We have all seen this play out in some way, or we have been the little boy ourselves, hiding in shame and anxiety after we mess up. Such a reaction is only natural. When the first man and woman committed the first sin, that is exactly what they did. The Bible tells us that, after eating the fruit God forbade them to eat, they heard God walking in the garden, “and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). 

It is natural to want to hide from God when we sin. Much like a small child who breaks one of their parents’ possessions in a moment of rebellion, we fear punishment, we fear being found out, and we just want to escape what we know we deserve. “All we like sheep have gone astray,” Isaiah writes (53:6), and this is a true statement. Adam passed down his sinful nature to all mankind, and we inherited not just the inclination to sin but also the propensity to attempt to hide from God and cover up our sin. 

Oh, we might think we are clever, but God sees through our feeble, shallow attempts. God sees that the heart of the churchgoer who never misses a service, hoping this might cover their transgressions, has not truly surrendered in worship. God knows that the one who puts on an outward religious front is desperately thirsty, in need of the satisfaction that comes only from the living water Jesus gives. God understands that, try as we might, we are still sinners in desperate need of a Savior, and He is the only one who can save. 

This is why we must reverse our natural posture. When we sin, we want to run from God. We want to cover up, flee the scene, and hide in the garden. However, the Bible beckons us to adopt a different approach. Listen to these words from Hebrews 4:15-16: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find help in time of need.”

We want to hide from God, but we need to do the opposite. Let us run to Him! Yes, God wants us to stop sinning, but the only way any real change to occur is for us to bring our sins to Him. This is why Jesus came. He came to earth not for the healthy, but for the sick. He lived a perfect life to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17). He died to seek and to save not those who are in the sheep fold, but those who are lost (Luke 19:10).

Jesus is not surprised or repelled by your sinful condition. Instead, he is drawn to you in it, and He wants to draw you out of it! Dane Ortlund puts it this way in his book Gentle and Lowly: “[Jesus] does not get flustered and frustrated when we come to him for fresh forgiveness, for renewed pardon, with distress and need and emptiness. That’s the whole point. It’s what he came to heal. He went down into the horror of death and plunged out through the other side in order to provide a limitless supply of mercy and grace to his people.” 

Do you find yourself ashamed, in need of forgiveness, and looking for something that does not come from yourself? We all do; if you aren’t now, then chances are you have before or you will be at some point in your life. When that comes, you can react in one of two ways. You can hide from God, or you can run to Him. You can try in vain to hide from the God who sees you and knows you or you can run to “the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). He loves you and He stands ready to forgive, greeting you with open arms and holding you tight now through all eternity. 

Let your response be what the song “Run to the Father” says: “run to the Father…fall into grace…done with the hiding, no reason to wait. My heart needs a surgeon, my soul needs a friend, so I’ll run to the Father again and again and again and again.”