Peek-a-boo and Hide n’ Go Seek are some of the first games we learn as children. They help us with concepts like object permanence and trust. They make our babies smile and laugh. When we play these games, there’s very little fear involved. Oh sure, my toddler might get a bit anxious if I don’t find him fast enough. He’ll jump out and yell “ta-da!” just because he doesn’t want to be away from me for that long. He’s afraid I might not ever find him and that he’ll be left alone, but most of the time he is happy to hide, knowing that I will be looking for him until he’s found. He’s happy to have me hide and to try and find me. Of course, I don’t hide anywhere where he can’t find me, even though I have the skills and knowledge to do so. I know it’s important for him to be able to find me when he looks for me. God does the same thing. He doesn’t hide from us so that we can not find Him. He knows it’s important for us that we be able to find Him when we look for Him.
In the Garden of Eden, I think God played games like Hide n’ Go Seek and Peek-a-boo with Adam and Eve. I think it helped to build that naturally occurring trust between Adam and Eve and God. After all, in the Garden there was no fear. There was only innocence. Adam and Eve had a close, intimate relationship with God that was filled with love and trust. They were naked both literally and figuratively. Obviously, they lacked clothing, but beyond that I mean they were vulnerable and open and unashamed. Nakedness represents a purity and an openness. Nothing is hidden or concealed. When you are free to be naked, you feel safe and accepted. If Adam and Eve ever hid from God in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world, they did so like a child does when playing a game. It was all in fun. There was no fear there. They knew God would come looking for them, and they wanted Him to come looking for them and find them. I imagine the garden was full of fun and games and laughter.
Adam and Eve had no reason to fear God because they were just as holy as He was. There was nothing within them that was different from God. Then Satan tempts Eve, and she sins and she leads Adam to sin. Now there is something within them that is broken. They are different from God now. They are no longer holy. Because they understood the difference between good and evil, Adam and Eve recognized their brokenness. Fear now entered their lives. They knew they could not stand in the presence of a holy God the way they were, so they hid themselves from God. We know God knew where they were. They couldn’t really hide from God’s presence, but this is the same process my toddler has when he’s done something wrong. He is afraid of the consequences of his wrong doing, and he thinks if he runs away and hides from me, then he won’t have to face those consequences.
It doesn’t work for him any more than it worked for Adam and Eve. They now felt their vulnerability. They now felt shame. They now felt fear. They had to hide themselves and cover themselves because their soul was screaming out for protection. A protection from holiness and from justice. God didn’t change, but their understanding of God did. They’re relationship with God did.
Satan is always trying to get us to see God as only holiness and justice. He wants us to see God as some angry, cosmic judge sitting with his gavel just waiting to declare us guilty and unworthy and to slap us with some kind of punishment for our wrongdoing. Satan sees God in this way because he lacks a comprehension of mercy and love. Satan saw in God only the things he desired for himself: power, prestige, worthiness of worship. When he rebelled and tried to set himself in God’s place, those are the qualities he wanted. He wanted unconditional servitude because he does not understand love. Satan creates slaves; he has no concept of creating sons.
But God doesn’t create slaves. Adam and Eve weren’t mindless automatons created for the sole purpose of feeding God’s ego. God creates families. He creates sons and daughters. That’s His desire for us, and God does this because He isn’t just a holy God or a just God, He is also a loving God and a merciful God. God is love. The supreme and ultimate definition of what love is. He isn’t sitting up their with a gavel waiting to punish us. God has never been about punishment. He didn’t punish Adam and Eve. We talk a lot about the “curse” of sin. Sometimes we even say that God cursed Adam and Eve, but God didn’t curse them. Sin did. God told them the consequences of their choice. Because He is holy and they are sinful, they can no longer be in His presence. Because they chose themselves as source and handed dominion over to Satan, creation won’t work the way it was designed to work. Now Satan is in charge. Now sickness can come and pain and suffering. Things that God didn’t program into the creation, but that Satan brought with him all the same.
Even kicking them out of the garden isn’t God’s punishment on them. He clearly says that He is doing it so that they don’t eat the fruit of the tree of life and so remain in their sinful state forever. He prevents them from being stuck in sin. He offers a way out. God always has a back up plan, and it’s always for your good. He looked for Adam and Eve. He sought them out. He promised His Son. Jesus Christ took our punishment. He died on our behalf.
God still seeks us out even today because He doesn’t change. He still offers love and mercy and redemption. He does not want us stuck in our sinful state. Satan doesn’t change either. He still wants us to believe his narrative of who God is. He wants us to fear God. He wants us to hide. He wants us focused on our sin. He wants us focused on our brokenness. He definitely doesn’t want us running to God in repentance. Oh no! He wants us to stop going to church, to stop reading our Bible, to stop praying….He wants us naked and vulnerable and afraid! He wants us full of shame and condemnation. Because he knows if we really saw who God is, we would not be afraid. We would not run and hide. We would run straight to God, cry out in repentance, receive His mercy and forgiveness, and be saved!
The next time sin rears its ugly head in your life, stop for a second and question your feelings of shame and condemnation. Shame and condemnation are NEVER from God. They aren’t in His vocabulary. When the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, He says, “What you’ve done is wrong. I love you. I want relationship with you. Won’t you come to me and let me clean you up so we can be together?” When Satan condemns you of sin, he says, “Who you are is wrong. You’re a horrible person. No one would want relationship with you. God doesn’t want to see you. Your friends and family don’t want to see you. You deserve to be alone.”
Don’t let Satan convince you to run and hide from God’s loving redemption and offer of restoration. Run to God instead. Repent. Be made whole again. And enjoy restored relationship with Him. Even if you don’t run to Him right away, God knows where you are. He will always come looking for you. Just like He asked Adam, He will ask you, “Where are you? Why are you hiding?” Because God loves you. He always has, and He always will.
A Beautiful Mess 