Hide and Seek | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Hide and Seek | Previous Challenge Entry
By
05/01/07
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

Hide and Seek

Do you remember playing the game of "hide and seek" as a child? I remember a time as if it happened yesterday. There was one friend who was older than I and one who was younger. I remember standing against the tree with my hands covering my eyes and counting by tens until I reached one hundred. They reminded me to count out loud so they could hear me. This gave them an idea of how much time they had to hide. Once I reached one hundred, I opened my eyes and yelled out, "Ready or not! Here I come!" My friends tried their darnedness to stifle their giggling so it wouldn't reveal their hiding place. I would listen carefully for any kind of sound that would give them away and then start running to find them.

In the Genesis account, we read of how the Lord designed all of His creation. And the Lord saw that everything He made was good. He fashioned man and woman in His own image, mirroring His perfect attributes. He had the most satisfying relationship with them in the garden. He loved them. He walked with them. He talked with them. He provided for every need they had out of His abundance and brought perfect contentment to their heart, mind and soul. Their complete dependence on the Lord pleased Him. But once the "fallen angel" got in between mankind and God, everything changed. After mankinds' first act of disobedience, they hid themselves from God in the garden.

Could God have wiped out, destroyed mankind in the garden? Yes. But did He? No. After they disobeyed God, He called out to them, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9) After the Lord spoke with them, He provided a "covering" for them and then sent them out of the garden. Mankind was responsible for severing their relationship with God. It was not the other way around.

In Isaiah chapter 55, we see that God is a 'God of second chances,' so to speak. In actuality, He gives us many more than that, which portrays a beautiful picture of His compassionate and long-suffering nature. One could almost surmize that He is inviting us back to the garden in verse 1. In fact, it appears as if He is coaxing us out of our hiding place. He invites us once again to "listen carefully" to Him. He invites us once again to "eat what is good," in verse 2. In verse 6-13, He calls out to us as He did to the first man and woman in the garden. He tells us to seek Him while He may be found. He does not want us to hide from Him any longer. He calls us to forksake our wicked ways and thoughts and to return to Him. He tells us He will have compassion on us once again. He promises His creation will be restored to the way it was in the garden, in the beginning. That includes us...our relationship with Him can be restored. He is still reaching out to us today and asking, "Where are you?" If something has caused you to hide from God, won't you step out from your hiding place today? He assures us that if we seek Him with all of our heart...we will find Him.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.