There You Are
I love playing Hide and Seek with little ones.
Those sweet, tiny cherubs think they are so clever hiding (when you can totally see them) and get so excited to hear you whisper, "Where are you?" as you roam around looking for them (even when you totally know where they are).
The anticipation gets the best of them, and they jump for joy and shout, "Here I am, Here I am."
When you find them, you scoop them up, spin them around, and gleefully exclaim, "There you are!" as their little faces light up joyfully.
Oh, what fun!
We play this game with God sometimes, don’t we?
We think we are so clever with our hiding spots. We found just the right dark corner to hide in. We giggle to ourselves as we disappear beneath an incredibly heavy boulder that was quite precarious to get under.
Surely, God won't find us here.
We tell ourselves we would prefer if He actually stopped roaming around looking for us and just left us alone.
We aren't super proud of what we are doing, aren't ready to change, and definitely don't want to listen to the judgmental lecture.
Despite all that, deep down, maybe even WAY deep down, we want nothing more than for God to scoop us up and exclaim, "There you are!"
But we push those feelings away and convince ourselves that God probably gave up on us anyway.
But that couldn't be further from the truth.
Make no mistake about it: God never stops searching for us.
He knows where we've been and what we've been doing. He can totally see us.
And He is on a mission not just to seek but to find and bring us back to Him.
Because, my little tiny cherub of adorableness, when God does find you and scoop you up, there will be so much joy because you are together again.
No lecture, no shaming, no I told you so.
You have nothing to hide or be afraid of because God loves you unconditionally, as you are, always and forever.
When He finds you, you will gladly follow Him and leave behind that which no longer serves you because what lies ahead is way better than hiding under that big ole rock. I mean seriously, that really hurt.
Come out into the light and shout as loud as you can, "Here I am, Here I am!"
God is running towards you and is going to scoop you up, spin you around, and gleefully shouts, “There you are!”
Then get ready for some jumping for joy, my friend.
God has found you, and He is never, EVER going to let you go.
2 Corinthians 16:9
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him
Galatians 5: 16-18
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
John 8:12
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”