We're all hiding from something.
Lt. John McClane hiding in the air ducts of Nakatomi Plaza.
Peeta Mellark hiding in a mud pit in the Hunger Games arena.
E.T. hiding among the stuffed animals in Gertie’s bedroom.
Some of the most memorable scenes in movie history are of people hiding. Why is that? Because it’s something we all do every day. It’s why half the books at Barnes & Noble are on self-help. It’s why Oprah, Dr Phil, Dr Laura, and all the other TV doctors became billionaires. Because we’re all hiding from ourselves. Hiding from our husbands and wives. Hiding from our problems. Hiding from our God.
It wasn’t always this way. In Genesis, it says that when Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, they were “both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25). They were naked before God. There was nothing separating them. No barriers between them. They were naked with each other. There was nothing to hide. Nothing to be self-conscious about. They didn’t think about themselves at all! Their whole happy life was all about loving God and loving each other. They were naked to the world. They didn’t feel the need to protect themselves from anything in the environment.
But then they started to doubt God’s goodness. They wanted to seize things for themselves that they thought God was withholding from them. And the result? “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths” (Genesis 3:7). Suddenly, they feel separated from God. They feel self-conscious toward each other. They feel exposed to the world.
So they make some clothes to take care of all that. Unfortunately, fig leaves are the best they can find. It’s like making clothes out of Kleenex. These things are going to fall apart in 5 minutes!
So how does God going to respond to all this? It says, “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8). Incredible! God comes looking for them. He doesn’t have to do that. He could just flick his little pinky finger, and send them both spinning off into outer space.
Instead, he’s coming for a “walk” with them. In the Old Testament, when it talks about “walking” with someone, it means having a friendship with that person. God’s coming to find them as their friend! He knows exactly what Adam and Eve have done, but he’s still coming to pursue a relationship. God knows the worst parts about us, and he still comes looking to be our friend.
And what do we do in response? What are Adam and Eve doing? Hiding. That’s what we do. We’re always hiding from God, hiding from each other, hiding from the world.
And what does God do? He keeps pursuing. “The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). He’s coming to find them, which is the opposite of how we think things work. When someone becomes a Christian, what do we say? “They found Jesus!” Like they were on this desperate search for God, and God was hiding himself from them until they finally looked under the right rock and found him.
That’s not the way it works. We run from God. We hide from God. And in his unrelenting love and grace, he comes and finds us.
How have you seen God pursuing you this week?