God Isn’t Hiding
M
y life became much easier when I stopped thinking God was hiding from me. Somewhere along the line, many of us become convinced God is playing some type of cosmic game of hide-and-seek with us. We don’t usually say these words out-loud, but this mentality shows up in our thought processes. We think “God’s will” is behind the next metaphorical tree, down the next road, or around the next turn. And, God forbid, we miss the turn or look behind the wrong tree we will somehow miss God altogether or manage to screw up our entire lives in the process. If we pick the “wrong” college, buy the “wrong” house, move to the “wrong” city, or accept the “wrong” job somehow we will thwart God’s plan for our lives and suffer the consequences indefinitely.However, over time I have come to know this narrative to be false. It’s not that I don’t think God cares where you work or live, I just don’t think God cares as much as we think God does about such matters. Instead, I think God is a whole lot more concerned with how you act where you live, how you work at your job, and how you represent God into the world. This doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences (both good and bad) for each of our decisions. Anyone with a past will tell you this is so. I just don’t think one of those consequences is God abandoning us and leaving us to flounder for us somehow messing up a cosmic plan.
My life became much easier when I stopped thinking God was hiding from me.
Thinking we can thwart God’s will often leads to paralysis when it comes to decision making. We agonize over choices, praying for God to reveal something to us to make our decision easier. Sure, God shows up in those times occasionally, but sometimes I think God just wants us to make a choice. God has set options before us and is just saying, “Pick one and love me and love others wherever that takes you”. Should we pray faithfully? Yes. Should we seek counsel? Yes. Should we also just begin to believe that God is with us wherever we go and make a choice? Also yes.
I often consider the texts of Ephesians 1:18-23 (especially vs. 23) and 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 (especially vs. 28). Both of those verses talk about God being “all in all” or God “filling all things with God’s self”. The heart of God is not one of hiding from God’s creation. Instead, it is one that is ever-present with us. We are generally the one’s who hide (much like Adam and Eve in the Garden). If your narrative of God paints God as the character in the story who leaves, turns away, or abandons, then I would challenge your perception of God. The grand story of the Scriptures is consistently one of God repairing, restoring, and pursuing. Even while the prophets were raging and the exile was ravaging a nation, God didn’t truly abandon God’s people. Even while dying at the hands of a violence-loving, power-hungry regime God did not abandon us.
Scripture’s narrative is not a God who turns away if we make a false step. Scripture’s picture of God is not a God who hides from us. Instead, it is a God who is ever-present, a God who has suffered, and a God whose plans we can’t ultimately undo. My life became much easier when I stopped thinking God was hiding from me. Maybe yours will too.
