Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Expect (07/11/13)
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TITLE: Heavenly Hide and Seek | Previous Challenge Entry
By Carla Rogers
07/17/13 -
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Giggling with delight, the little girl banged her hands and feet against the high chair tossing her brown curls as I hid my face from her view. I was enjoying this special time too until I didn't reappear when she expected. The smiles and giggles became cries of fear and her tears flowed freely. As I soothed the sobbing child, I knew exactly how she felt. Memories of hide and seek peaked through the dimness of my mind like little rays of sunlight. Hide and seek wasn't one of my favorite games because I was not a good seeker, or a hider, for that matter. A friend of mine would find the most outrageous places to hide; only she would think to hide on top of the refrigerator. Being unsuccessful at hide and seek led me to be fearful, frustrated; I wanted to quit.
God plays hide and seek all through life. These periods are called dessert or wilderness experiences when everything seems to fall apart. God does not act in the expected way. God appears to be silent not answering my desperate pleas for deliverance. I always assume that I will behave during these times like the mature Christian I believe I have become, but surprisingly I don’t. I usually start out mature, but devolve into acting like I did when playing hide and seek, wanting to quit the trial, fearful of the future, fearing what other think. If the wilderness experience lasts longer than expected, I can devolve even further to acting like a baby, crying when I don’t get my way.
The most famous of these hide and seek times in the Bible is Job, but David’s psalms are full of expressions questioning God why he is hiding. Some of David’s psalms start out full of despair, pleading with God to reveal himself, to stop hiding, but by the end of the psalm, he is full of hope and trusting God. He didn't stay in his childlike questions, but moved quickly on to mature trust and faith. David also had the ability to look beyond his current trial to see what lies ahead. Looking forward to future rewards encourages us and gives us peace.
Studying the Bible during these times and studying Biblical books on subjects related to the wilderness experience keeps me in the spiritual game of hide and seek, always searching for God’s hidden countenance. Eventually, I have to decide, like Job, to trust in God’s way even when it doesn't make sense. “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;” Job 13:15 (NIV).
Father, please forgive me when I display emotions that even I don’t expect during times of trial. Help me to realize that these hard times come to prove my faith, to bring to the surface these hidden emotions that need to be removed from my life. Amen.
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