You Can Run, But You Can't Hide!

While out in the woods the other evening, I shot some selfies for my 65th birthday.  When I pulled them up on the computer, I had to laugh.  It looks like I’m trying to hide, from that huge number, behind the tree.  Would that I could!  Only kidding, but there have certainly been times when I’ve wanted to conceal myself.  Maybe it was an encyclopedia salesman at the door, a obnoxious person in Wal-Mart, or as a child, your parents when you had been disobedient.  Be honest, everyone of you have tried to hide from something or someone.  I think it’s fair to say , we’re in good company.

The idea of hiding got me thinking about all the people, throughout the scriptures, who have tried the same thing.  At the very get-go, Adam and Eve, after the forbidden fruit episode, gave it a shot.  “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” Genesis 3:8.  He found them. How about Moses? He ran off into the desert, to avoid the job God had for him. God let him sit out there quite a while, but he found him.   One of my favorite hiders was Saul, the one who was to become the King of Israel.  If you recall God knew they didn‘t need a King, but he gave them one anyway.  “So they asked the LORD, ‘Where is he?’ And the LORD replied, ‘He is hiding among the baggage.’ 1 Samuel 10:22.  He didn’t seem like the strongest candidate, and he wasn’t even good at hiding!  How about King David?  He tried to hide his sin from God, and we all know how that played out.

 There were others, of course, but these major hiders are ones we can all relate to.  All of them had either been disobedient, or unwilling to comply with God’s directives.  How foolish, and what a waste of time and energy.  God had this to say about hiding. "Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?" declares the LORD "Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:24.

Are you trying to hide from God?  Forget about it!  Just like old age finds all of us, so will He.  All of these people serve as examples to us, but are we listening? Hiding is a gut-reaction to fear. Don’t be afraid.  Sure, what God asks of you may seem scary, impossible even dangerous, but he has the master plan, not us….Trust Him!  After King David was “found” he never hid from God again, even if he may have felt like it.  In fact, read Psalm 139 whenever you feel the need to duck behind some suitcases, or a tree.  Here is a portion for you to mull over.  Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,  even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139:7-10.  Remember, you can run, but you can’t hide!