Proverbs 15:3. The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Have you ever tried to hide from God?
The classic tale of hiding from God (or at least attempting to) is the story of Jonah. Jonah is not primarily kid’s story about a man being swallowed by a big fish; it’s the human story. The story of each of us. We all try to run from God at some point. God asked Jonah to do something that he simply did not want to do – preach to the Ninevites, Israel’s mortal enemy. Jonah didn’t try to hide because the task was hard, but because he hated the idea of it. So he hid on a boat.
Jonah thought that he could run away from God. He thought he could go somewhere where God could no longer see him. I know, it sounds ridiculous, right? But like we said, this is the human story, your story and my story. What boat are you hiding on?
Chances are that your boat is something very nice and good. Your family. Your work. Your ministry. Wherever you feel most comfortable. So comfortable that you can sleep through storms as long as you’re on this boat. And as long as God doesn’t see you and try to get you to go to “Ninevah.” To your gay neighbors, or to “that guy” at work, or to that new church plant, or to leading your kids spiritually.
You can’t hide from God. God sees everything. His eyes are in every place, all the time, at the same time. Does this thought bring you comfort? It should. God seeing our good and our evil should bring us peace. He sees all that we do, and yet he still loves us, honors us, and pursues us, even if it is with large fish in tempestuous seas.
Why? Because in Christ God sees us. The real us. IF God can see both the good and the evil then he can see that in Christ we are good and not evil. There is all kinds of hope for us to do what is good, because we ARE by nature now good. As good as Christ himself. Sure, we still try to hide from God, but deep inside us there is a good desire to follow the calling of the Lord and run toward him, not away from him. Deep inside us there is faith. The same faith that gave us the righteousness of Christ, is the faith that draws us toward the work of God no matter where he might ask us to go.
When you know that you are in Christ and that Christ is in you, the idea of hiding from God becomes the ultimate in foolishness. There is no escaping the love of Jesus. Not on a boat of comfort, not in the belly of the fish or his discipline.
You: Do you ever try to subconsciously hide from God?Is there something uncomfortable that God is asking you to do that you have been avoiding?
You in Christ: How does your union with Christ make it impossible to hide from God?
Christ in you: How does Christ in you make you good? Why will that goodness always follow where Christ leads?
Pray: Father, I can’t run from you, nor do I want to. Show me how to follow Christ today into anyplace that needs his love and mercy. Amen.
To Live is Christ 