Tag: hiding from God

Hide and Seek

Genesis 3, Proverbs 3, Matthew 2

Devotion by Aaron Winner (SC)

Our two-year-old’s favorite game is probably hide and seek. She is actually pretty remarkable at staying still and quieting her breaths so she will not be found. The only problem with her strategy is that she always chooses the same hiding spot—the curtains in our master bedroom. For her, the game is not about actually remaining hidden. It would lose its appeal quickly if she stayed concealed too long. Her joy is ultimately to be found and to be reunited with family, “Daddy, you found me!”

In today’s reading, we see God playing the seeker as He looks for His favored creation in the garden. No matter how still Adam and Eve remain, God knows the hiding place. When He asks, “Where are you?”, it is a loaded question from the one who knows us most intimately, both our physical location and hearts. God is not met by the joyful giggles of a toddler, but by the shameful chagrin of sin (Prov. 3:7). Even though God knew where He would find them and did not withhold discipline (Prov. 3:12), by His infinite grace, He still searched for them.

That same grace carries forward into the arrival of the Son of Man. God hung a star in the east to announce the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the hope first spoken in Genesis, the One who would crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). Though the distance was far, men who were seeking found a child, guided by both the heavens and the Word of God (Matt. 2:6). God makes His mercies known.

And so, when we are searching, we are always led to the same place. If we are looking for rest, we look to Jesus. If we are looking for meaning, we look to Jesus. If we are looking for hope, we look to Jesus. Throughout the Old Testament, again and again, God “hides” His promise of His Son in plain sight some 300 times, all pointing toward the life, death, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ, who conquers sin once and for all.

So who are we fooling if we think we can remain hidden among the foliage and unseen by God? If we feel distant from him, the heavens and His word are still declaring we need only turn to the same place where our faith begins, Jesus Christ. Unchanged is the place where grace and hope begin.

Let us pray this together:

Abba Father, I have been desperately hoping you would find me. I will trust in You with all of my heart. I won’t lean on my understanding but Yours. Give me correction along with your grace that is greater still. In all Your ways, let me submit to You, for I know You will make my path straight. Lead me to the advent of Christ, to be found among the faithful who seek You. In your name of your Son, whose resurrection gives us hope. Amen

Reflection Questions

  1. It is good for us to remember we do not have the mind of God – but what tone of voice do you imagine God used when asking, “Where are you?” Why might He have started with a question, and this specific question? What tone of voice might He have used when giving correction and consequences?
  2. How are you like Adam? How are you like Eve? How did God show grace and correction with consequences to Adam and Eve? How have you experienced both grace and correction with consequences from God? What is the purpose of each?
  3. Adam and Eve obviously didn’t have Proverbs 3:5-7 on their refrigerator. How might it have helped them to know these verses of wisdom? How can you better live out Proverbs 3:5-7? When do you most need to hear these verses? How can you memorize them and/or plaster them in your life so they will be part of your first line of defense against temptation so you can spend less time hiding from God.
  4. From today’s readings, what are some beautiful things about God’s plan of salvation through His Son Jesus?
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Hide and Seek

Old Testament: Job 32-34

Poetry: Psalm 45

New Testament: Titus 3

Have you ever played Hide and Seek before?  In Hide and Seek, everyone tries to hide from one person, the seeker.  These players try to choose a spot that they will be the least likely to be found in, which normally ends up being in a dark or shadowed place, where it is harder to see clearly.  The seeker goes around trying to find everyone that is hiding.  They don’t know where anybody is hiding, but they may have guesses as they hear noises, see movement, etc.  But, have you ever considered playing Hide and Seek where the seeker just always knows exactly where you hid, no matter how creative it is?  


Real life is like that many times.  People choose to commit sins and try to hide them in the dark.  Everyone has times in their lives that they try to hide in the darkness and keep their sins to themselves, hoping nobody will ever know.  But, Job tells us that there is somebody who will always know.  Job 34:21-22 says, “For His eyes are upon the ways of  man, And He sees all his steps. There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”  There is no place we could ever hide our sins that God will not see.  God can see into every dark and shadowed place that you try to play Hide and Seek in.


Isaiah 29:15 says, “Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, ‘Who sees us?’ or ‘Who knows us?’”  Hiding what you are doing in the dark will not lead to joy.  In the end, these things will lead to destruction and despair if you do not turn away from them.  Just like you cannot stay hidden forever in Hide and Seek, these deeds you do in the dark cannot stay hidden forever.  If you are hiding your sins in the dark, turn away from them and come into the light.  If you are not hiding anything in the dark, stand firm in the light and don’t let anything draw you into the darkness.


John 3:19-21:  “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.  For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

-Kaitlyn Hamilton

Reflection Questions

  1. How much light are you living in right now? How much darkness?
  2. What steps/sins are you trying to hide from God? What works better?
  3. What does it mean to you that God sees everything?
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