Scripture References:
“Am I only a God nearby, declares the LORD,“and not a God far away? Who can hide in secret placesso that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD.“Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD” Jeremiah 23:23-24
“For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me” Romans 7:19-20
“He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion” Proverbs 28:13
"But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out." Numbers 32:23
Hiding our sin never leads anywhere good, but playing hide and seek with God is actually impossible. “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13). It's a haunting and glorious thought: nothing is hidden from the Lord.
A huge number of my incarcerated brothers and sisters are lingering in prison because of sins of the flesh. Many are serving life sentences, a handful are doing life without parole. Several of these men are my dearest friends, and it grieves me to see them in prison. To the man, they acknowledge their sin, and have accepted the fact that they now reap what they have sown. These men have demonstrated great remorse, regret and more important genuine repentance for their offense committed so many years ago.
Sins of the flesh can get a grasp on someone and hold on for many years. Society rejects them and would be pleased if they never were released from prison. To the man, every one I think of this night are men who Paul spoke so clearly about in l Corinthians 6:9-10 where the apostle covered a list of continual sins which would keep them out of the kingdom of God. thank God that Paul didn’t see them remaining in that state, nor did God. Paul declared, “And such WERE some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God.”
These men and women have left their sin at the foot of the cross, and now continue to press on toward the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. I’m blessed to call them my friends and even more blessed to see their daily efforts to bring the light of the gospel into very dark places.
Playing Hide n’ Seek With God
In our family I had two brothers and a sister. We have a bunch of cousins. Today Cynthia and I have 16 grandchildren. Like many families growing up back in the 50’s we loved to play hide n’ seek. From a parent’s perspective, the game always unfolded the same way every time:
Because small kids aren't too creative, they also weren’t so clever at hiding. As parents we would pretend that we can’t find them and act like we’re about ready to give up. They, on the other hand, always have trouble finding us. Just as they are about to concede defeat, we begin whistling or clapping so they can find us. Like small children, we hide in obvious places, and God’s watchful eye is always ready to expose us.
It’s a very cute game, but the first “game” of hide and seek recorded in the Bible was anything but.
“And 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. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:8-10, ESV)
This is one of the saddest stories recorded in the Bible. Why? Because Adam and Eve were created to live in the most beautiful relationship anyone could ever have–in intimate communion with God.
Our first parents were designed to live in a worshipful, obedient, and loving relationship with their Creator, with him and before him out in the open, with nothing to regret or fear. God walked with them in the perfect garden he had made for them. It was the perfect environment.
But in this shocking moment, we find them hiding from God. Something has gone very wrong. Instead of longing to once again be with God, they are afraid to be seen by him. Sin had entered the world, and the guilt and fear of sin caused them to hide.
Thousands of years later, people are still hiding from God. John said it this way: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19).
Between the already of our conversion and the not yet of our homegoing, we need to again and again expose the destructive delusion of “hiding” from God. Hiding our sin never leads anywhere good, but playing hide and seek with God is actually impossible. “No creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).
It’s a haunting and glorious thought: nothing is hidden from the Lord. God is gloriously omnipresent, all-seeing, and all-knowing. There is no place that he is not, there is nothing he doesn’t see, and there is nothing he doesn’t know.
But there’s more. It is the greatest comfort ever that we cannot escape his presence. By grace, God watches over us with the compassionate heart of a loving Father, protecting, providing, rescuing, and guiding.
One of the purposes of corporate worship–that is, going to church—is to remind us that any attempt to hide our sin from him is an act of spiritual insanity. Sundays should be a weekly invitation to come out of hiding and to bask in the beauty of knowing and being known by God, a beauty that is ours because of his redeeming grace.
God Doesn’t Need Glasses
The Lord does not have a myopic condition. He’s not nearsighted. As small children, we were taught the great truths of the characteristics of God. We know He is all-powerful, all knowing, we know he is everywhere and can see everything going on, anywhere in the world, at all times. Yet, since the fall of man in the garden, we have been playing hide n’ seek with the creator.
We all must live our lives with the choices we make. Our choices have consequences, some with serious consequences here on earth. The worst choice that can be made is to reject God, facing eternal separation from the one who created you. Those of us who have come to faith in Christ learn early on that we have a sin nature, and in coming to Christ we take the greatest comfort in knowing that Christ has redeemed us from the ultimate consequences of our sin.
I wish it could be different, but life as a believer is always going to be a struggle between the flesh and the spirit; with some more than others, yet the principle remains true. Lord willing, as God’s children grow in grace, they will put to death the deeds of the flesh, keeping short accounts with God. Sadly, less mature believers will struggle with sin, and during specific periods of life will fall prey to sin, somehow living as if they have gotten away with it; as if God was somehow not looking when they fell prey to sin.
Children in Christian households need to be taught the serious nature of sin from the youngest age. They must understand that God has an all seeing eye, and that he observes everything we do, at all times. When it comes to sins of the flesh, all too often we start up a fresh game of hide n’ seek with God.
Even though we know God is fully omniscient, our sinful nature, urges, and desires for all things “flesh,” tend to rule over our common senses and foresight. We jump headlong into the net without realizing its presence; often it’s too late and a pattern of behavior has begun that’s like trying to put out a wildfire with a squirtgun.
I’ll pick on the men for a moment, as it seems we're used to hearing about the man who gives in to his wandering eye. This very night, in all 50 states, there are men who are driving to some kind of rendezvous with a woman who is not their wife. As Thomas Brooks said nearly 500 years ago, these are people “who have not seen the hidden hook, yet have swallowed the bait.” Satan is the master deceiver, and this is what he does best. He dangles sin in front of us, making it look innocent and fanciful.
From our earliest days as a Christian, we need solid teaching and understanding that if you cover your sin, you will never prosper or be in a right relationship with God. Moese hit the nail square on the head when he declared, But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the LORD; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.
Read it and memorize it, and don’t think you will ever get away with your sin. You may have fooled your spouse, your children, friends and everyone else, but God knows all your actions, and He remains your only hope for mercy and forgiveness.
Many of the false gods people have worshiped throughout history, including Jeremiah’s time, were limited in both time and space. They could travel from place to place, but only one place at a time. However, that is not true of God. One of his attributes is omnipresence – he is everywhere, and his presence fills the creation. And being everywhere, is there anything he does not know? An attribute we call omniscience.
These two verses come amid a passage where God, through Jeremiah, called out false prophets who claimed to speak in God’s name. God is telling these false prophets that he knows what they are doing and saying. Nothing is hidden from him. And these false prophets would be held accountable for what they are telling the people.
But this short passage does not just apply to false prophets. Each of us has our secret places, the inner recesses of our hearts and minds. The thoughts, feelings, and motives we keep hidden from other people. And we are often guilty of thinking they are also hidden from God.
God knows what is in my secret places. I cannot hide them from him. We think no one knows our secret sins, but God knows every one of them. God knows all the ugliness that I keep locked away inside. He knows the unhealthy thoughts and feelings I struggle with. And he knows why I act and respond the way I do. Even better than I do.
Yet all too often, when we come before him, we pretend that ugliness is not there—that all is well. How much better is it to admit to him what he already knows? And to seek his help in taking out the garbage. Only then can we be truly clean, having an undivided heart and mind that honors and pleases my Lord.
We Know He Sees Everything, Yet We Somehow Think We Can Hide Our Sin
Not only for me as a young boy but as human beings, we are all excellent hiders. It’s in our nature. Nowadays, most of our hiding is done in plain site. We hide behind our relationships. We hide behind our careers. We hide behind politics. We are all excellent at hiding.
Sin speaks to our spirits an ancient lie that we were born to hide.
Where did we get this ability to hide from? All traces point back to the first couple God ever created. Do you remember the first couple in Genesis 3? Let’s be a little redundant and look again early in Genesis.
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves fig leaves. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool[c] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”[d]10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ” (Genesis 3:1-10)
It’s worth mentioning again that acting on behalf of their newfound sinful nature, Adam and Eve hid from the very presence of God. This speaks to the nature of sin that the enemy interjected into our spirits at the fall of man. Instead of us showing ourselves fully to the Lord, and having that intimate and open relationship, we hide from the very presence of God that loves us. Sin speaks to our spirits an ancient lie that we were born to hide. How does this happen?
From Serpent to Dragon
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals..” (Genesis 3:1)
“The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” (Revelation 12:9)
In the book of Genesis (the first book of the Bible), Satan began as a serpent. By the time of Revelation (the last book of the Bible), Satan became a Dragon. What started as a little serpent deceiving Adam and Eve ended up becoming a Dragon that deceived the entire world. This illustrates the intentions of the enemy. Mainly, his desire for his voice to become bigger and more prominent in your life. He wants to enter your life as a serpent and grow into a Dragon.
Whenever we allow the enemy’s voice to grow more prominent in our life, we hide ourselves from the presence of God. Allowing the voice of God to dwindle down is the enemy's mission.
Remember in our scripture when the little serpent said, “Did He [God] really say you will die? You will not surely die…”
The enemy knows that if he doesn’t have the same power as the voice of God. That is not what he is even after. He doesn’t also want to get into a match with the voice of God. He knows he’d never win. Instead, he wants you to listen to his little tiny whispers over and over again. Pretty soon, if those whispers are the only thing you are listening to over his voice will grow and become bigger than the Lord’s.
Hiding From God is Only Listening To Our Problems
Often, the enemy uses the problems in our lives to create a distraction from the voice of God. Again, Satan knows he has no power over the voice of God, so that’s not the game he wants to get into. He desires to use a fabricated situation to rule over God’s voice in your life. As Christians, we will read in the Scripture to “not fear”, only to fear when faced with an impossible situation. What is happening to our spirit when we do this? We are listening to the voice of our problems over God’s voice through His Word.
The funny thing is, it’s not like the enemy isn’t trying to get our attention when we are walking with God. We don’t notice it because our mind is undivided and complete by fixing our mind on the Word of God. You see, when we are walking face to face with God, in full relationship with Him, even though the enemy is still speaking through our problems, we don’t listen. We could be walking in the garden and having a conversation with the Word of God and not even realize that we were inches outside of hell.
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of thine enemies.” (Psalms 23:4)
When God’s voice is greater in your life, you won’t settle into believing the superficial lies of the enemy. You’ll never come into agreement with fear and doubt over your life, even when faced with impossible circumstances. Instead of being afraid, you know your place with Jesus Christ, and you will understand that without His Word clothing, you are naked. God’s Word is what gets out into the open air in a relationship with him.
Final Thought
In the same way we hide our sin from God, we also try to hide our sin from each other. We attempt to wear a mask and pretend that everything is ok but really, on the inside, we are dying due to the sin that is festering there. As the body of Christ we are meant to encourage, pray for and live life close to one another for this reason. Christ was the very epitome of encouragement and how to love others in spite of their sin.
We should be around other believers and living life with them so that we can confess sin, enjoy victories, and hurt with others when they hurt because we are the family of God. If someone in your family is struggling you wouldn’t turn a blind eye. No, you would comfort, pray with and love them through their struggles. In James 5:16 it says “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, that you may be healed.The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
And then, verse 19-20 says, “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” This is why it is so important as followers of Jesus that we live life together. We could never follow the life that Christ has called us to alone.
Remember, Satan is like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. When we present ourselves like a baby gazelle who has been separated from the herd, we will fall prey to his attack. But, if we exist within the herd, there is protection from the enemy. This sort of picture is what we are called to as a family of believers in Christ. Again, Christ modeled this for us with His followers as they lived through the messiness of life together.
As I think about the ways that God has changed my heart, this is one of the primary areas. I was one of the people who thought that I could go to church on Sunday, have that “God” moment, and then try to live my life on my own the rest of the week. But this never worked. Why? First, I am a sinful man and no one was living life with me to encourage me or to see how I was doing in my struggles. Then my mind would begin believing lies like I’m not forgiven because I have done too much.
Then I would give in to that sin more and more until a sovereign, loving God said that this isn’t the life that I want for you. Christ’s pursuit of my soul is the only reason that I am here writing this devotional. He loved me enough to show me that life with Him and dependency upon Him is the only way to have true peace and rest. I pray that, as you are reading this, you would choose to not hide and bring your sin to light and run back to the Father’s loving arms!
Questions To Ponder
1. Think through an area or two of your life where you are tempted to hide from God. Why is it a destructive thing to try and hide from God? Why is it a delusional thing? Why is an attempt—in any way—to hide our sin something that’s actually impossible? If it’s impossible, why do you think we still try to do it?
2. Why is the truth that nothing is hidden from the Lord something that is actually good news, not bad news, even though it might seem initially terrifying? Why should it be comforting to know that we cannot escape the presence of God?
Again, even though it might be initially scary to know that there is nothing God doesn’t see, take some time to think through what it means to be totally known and exposed to a loving heavenly Father who is compassionate, protecting, providing, rescuing, and guiding.
Now write out a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the fact that he does know you completely in all of your rebellion, and yet still loves you more than you ever dared to imagine. Glory Be To God!
From: Fight the Good Fight of Faith / Life Journal: by Gregg Harris
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