Hide and Seek

Josh Knipple brings us clarity with today’s great devo. Take a few minutes and really focus on what he has to say. Powerful stuff!!!

It was always one of my favorite games growing up, and even now as a dad I still love playing with my kids.  There is just something about it that brings a thrill whether you are hiding or the one who is it.  Maybe even just reading this your mind is wandering back to your favorite hiding spot as a kid.    For me, it was always the back of the attic hiding behind the Halloween costumes.  Keep that thought of Hide and Seek in your mind for a moment.  

So yesterday morning I was sitting on our back porch trying to have a quiet moment with God before our kids got up.  The only problem was, my head was pounding, and I couldn’t keep my eyes focused to try to read.  Instead I just kept closing my eyes trying to focus on praying instead.  Yet all I could focus on was the ringing in my ears, and my thoughts kept going, “Maybe if you got for more coffee, maybe if you got some Tylenol, or maybe go back to sleep for a bit.”  The more I would try to focus the more, I would focus on my head.  Dangit.  In my mind I kept trying to recite the verse, “If you seek me, you will find me.”  God, I am trying.  So I decided to just embrace the shutting my eyes for a few moments of silence, God show me something.  

I never could have imagined what happened next.  A shadowy figure kept running through the darkness across the screen, at first catching me off guard.  What in the world?  Then as it got closer I started hearing it whisper, “Seek me.”  After a few times hearing those words, I noticed another person come into image, it was what appeared to be a silhouette of myself and the original shadow I saw was Jesus.   “I’m trying Jesus, I’m trying.”  His words conitinued, “Now seek me with your whole heart.”  Then as my shadow got closer to him, the light kept getting brighter and brighter.  As I drew near to Him, I had to open my eyes because the light had gotten so bright.  

For a few moments I sat there pondering what had just transpired.   My mind started racing to playing hide and seek with my kids.   Now picture with me playing hide and seek with my kids.  I am it, and they run off to hide.  I count to 30 and say, “ready or not, here I come.”  Then I just sit there.  I pick up my phone to check social media and the in the process check ESPN.  My kids start screaming in the background, “Dad are you coming?”  Yeah, yeah, as I stand up walking around pretending to look for them but still glued to the screen.  A few more moments go by and you can Hear the girls getting restless wanting to be found, but the whole time I am still distracted.  Focused on everything else except truly playing hide and seek.  It is only when I put the phone down and actually looking that I actually find them.  

Scripture tells us that, “If we seek Him, we will find Him, when we seek Him with our whole heart.”  How many of us skip the last part though.  We say God, I am trying to seek you but at the same time our minds are running elsewhere.  Even in church we are focused on our phone, on the clock, or the person sitting next to us.  How many days go by that we say we are seeking God, but we never pick up our Bible or spend time in prayer because “I don’t have the time or I just don’t read.”  We wonder why we feel distant from God when we think being in a church service for one hour a week is enough.  We skip the whole part of seeking God with our whole heart.

Friends let me be blunt.  God desires you to seek Him.  He desires you to find Him.  But He is not going to play second best to all your distractions.  Maybe it is time to truly set aside time for Him.  Find a quiet spot.  Put down your phone.  Get rid of the distractions.  Seek Him thief your whole heart.  Stop playing hide and seek with him where you think God is hiding and you can just sit on the couch to find Him.  

I will never forget growing up, a buddy of mine had one of those goofy Christian tshirts.  It was a picture of a couch in the center of it, with a cartoon of Jesus head popping up over its top that simply said, “I found Jesus, he was behind the couch.”  May sound corny, but God wants you to seek Him, and pursue Him.  The incredible part is the more you seek Him, the more He will show himself true to you.  

“Dear near to me and I will draw near to you.”

Make it a Master-filled Monday!

God is good…