Hiding from God

Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect fellowship with God, until they disobeyed Him. Suddenly, everything changed. They no longer welcomed His presence. In fact, they tried to hide from Him.

It can be natural for us to have the same kind of reaction. Perhaps we have disobeyed Him or done something we should not have done. Perhaps we have felt the conviction of His Spirit. Perhaps we want to avoid Him, concerned that He will say things that we don’t want to hear, or interfere with our plans and desires.

By trying to hide, somehow we think we don’t need to change, and can go our own way. We think that somehow avoiding Him will make things better, that we don’t need His correction. Like Jonah, we think that we don’t have to do His will (Jonah 1:1-3). Like Adam and Eve, we think that we don’t have to face His presence and deal with our actions.

There are many ways to try to hide. We can stop reading His Word and praying. We can avoid going to church or spending time with other believers. We can fill our minds with other thoughts and our schedules with other activities.

No matter how hard we try, we need to realize that it is impossible to hide from Him. To realize, like David, that we cannot flee from His presence (Psalm 139:7). To realize that He wants what is best for us and that hiding perpetuates our problems.

The answer is to seek God. To spend quality time in His presence. To read His Word. To be sensitive to the direction, conviction, teaching, and warnings of His Spirit. To change, as He leads us. To lay everything else aside to serve Him, and follow Jesus.