HIDE AND SEEK
"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (Luke 15:18-20).
During my daily quiet time with the Lord this week, I
was struck by the enormous love of our Father God for us His children. While the prodigal son in this parable was
still a considerable distance from home, the father spotted him as he was making
his way back to his father's house. It
was not by coincidence that his father saw him; his father had watched for him
since the time that he had left, waiting hopefully for his son's return. Then, when the father saw his son, there was
no hesitancy and no second guessing of what his response should be: he ran to
his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
God's love for us is no less immense.
Even when we fail Him, His love never fails us. He is ever seeking for His lost sheep to turn
them back again to the fold. Jesus,
speaking of His mission to the world said, "For
the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke
19:10). In another place He said, "For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved"
(John 3:17).
It is clear that God's intention is to seek, to call,
and to allure us to Himself. Our reaction,
on the other hand, is quite the opposite.
We tend to hide. When we know
that we have sinned, we become weighted down with guilt and tend to avoid God
because of the condemnation that we feel.
This is counter-productive to be sure.
Our holiness depends on our relationship with Christ because it comes
from the life that is in Him, and not from our own efforts. In order to bear the fruit of the Spirit, we
must abide in the Vine, and Jesus is the True Vine. Through Him come all of the nutrients that
cause us, the branches, to produce the fruit of righteousness.
We get this tendency to hide from God honestly. Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, were the first
to experience the shame of disobedience, and their reaction was to hide from
their Creator. "And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art
thou?" (Genesis 3:8, 9). Notice that God was already seeking for Adam
and Eve, even knowing that they had sinned.
His desire was to restore them.
After all, they were His creation, the work of His hands. He had a grand design for man; but His enemy,
Satan, desired only to derail God's plan and destroy His works. God, in His infinite wisdom, determined to
send His Son Jesus to redeem man from his own failure, and from Satan's
schemes.
What should be our response, then, when we have failed
our heavenly Father and sinned? We must
follow the ultimate example of the prodigal son. He said, "I
will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned
against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy
son." Truly acknowledging our
sin, and truly humbling ourselves to God are the ways that we restore our
relationship with Him. Even before
these, however, comes faith. The
prodigal determined to go to the father, not hide from him. This determination itself reveals the
prodigal's faith that his father would receive him, and forgive him.
King David, who was very familiar with repentance,
said, "I acknowledged my sin unto
Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions
unto the LORD; and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin" (Psalm 32:5). He also said, "Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the
hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom" (Psalm 51:6). David understood the futility of trying to
hide anything from God. He knew that our
hearts and minds must always be open to God in order for us to have a right
relationship with Him. Our character is
defined more by the choices and decisions we make when we are alone (before God
only) than by what we do when we know people are watching us. God has said, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). Let's not hide from our loving Father,
knowing that He is ever seeking a relationship with us. He really does love us!
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