No Hiding Place
We humans think we can hide.
We hide in many ways. We buy camouflage. Disguises may work for a time, even a mask. We suppress things we’ve done. We shield the truth fearing it will hurt too much. We swindle our hearts believing we can “hole up” where no one can find us.
Sometimes being in a wild place reminds me of my tendency to want to hide. Perhaps this explains my desire to have a cabin in the center of a large forest. My unspoken desire is to hide.
That’s not bad you say. It is when my motivation is to hide myself from God. And I don’t need a thousand-acre forest to do that.
What is the reason we humans want to hide from God? Sin-you know lies, stealing, taking God’s name in vain, sexual sin, idolatry, coveting our neighbor’s stuff, those things. We hide our sin from each other if we can.
A thousand-acre forest is not big enough to hide from God. No forest, no mask, shield, camouflage, or “holing up” some place can hide us from God. Jeremiah tells us this plainly, “Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24)
Wait.
Why hide from God? Yes, God hates sin. Don’t hide. Tell God.
Tell Him every messed-up detail. We can tell Him all the awful stuff we want to hide. Do you know why? He knows it all anyway. He is everywhere we try to hide, and He waits there for us to tell Him. He loves us. When we confess our sin to Him, He is faithful. He forgives us… Of every sin we seek to hide. Every time, always.