Hide and Seek

Saul had just gone through a major change in his life. Samuel had anointed him to be the king of Israel, his heart had been changed and he began to prophesy as the Spirit of God came upon him. He was left without a doubt that he was to be king, but when the time came for him to be proclaimed king, Saul was nowhere to be found. It was God himself who had to tell them he was hiding amongst the baggage!

There are many people in the Bible who tried to hide - and not just physically. After his denials, Simon Peter tried to hide in his old life as a fisherman; Thomas hid in his doubts that Jesus had been resurrected and Moses tried to hide behind his speech impediment.

However, the human attempts at hiding from God led to only one thing – God bringing them out of hiding and into restoration. He re-commissioned Simon Peter, He allowed Thomas to touch his wounds and remove his doubts and Aaron acted as spokesman for Moses and the Israelites were delivered from Egypt.

Whilst many of us are crying out for our own personal restoration and healing, it may be time for us to allow God to draw us out of our hiding places. We can hide in our spiritual, emotional or physical problems. We can hide in our doubts, our fears or in our uncertainty of God’s true love for us. We can hide in our independence and our own abilities or in shame of what we have done or failed to do.

In the game of hide and seek, the seeker would count to 100 and then shout, “ Coming! Ready or not!” Maybe that is what we should be asking God to do. He will only come if invited, but if we wait until we think we are ready, maybe He will never come.

Prayer: Father God, I know I have hidden from you in parts of my life. Today I simply ask that you will come and find me, whether I think I am ready or not. I ask that you will draw me out of my places of hiding and that you will guide me to my only true hiding place - in you. For that is my only place of safety and fulfilment. Amen.