The Hiding Place

Did you know the very first game of hide and seek started in a garden? Just like today, the children there hid and were afraid of being seen.  However, they weren’t giggling with excitement waiting to hear, “Ready or not here I come!” No. Something in their hearts had gone wrong. A fear that came from a lie. Yet deep deep down, they were hoping to be found, they were hoping to be sought out; not to be “found out” but to be rescued.

Like Adam and Eve, both believers and non-believers are still hiding from God today and it all comes from that one event in Eden. It was there the greatest lie of all time affected all of humanity. This lie from the pit of hell, caused the first two humans to doubt God’s love for them. And this lie tries to get God’s people to doubt His love for them today. Yet, before Adam and Eve believed it, their loving Father already had a new and safe hiding place prepared.

The lie was that God had been hiding something from them; that they didn’t really already have all they needed, that they didn’t need Him and that they weren’t really who God already said they were and made them to be. No one but your Father in Heaven can reveal to you who you are. Any other voice is a lie. The lie will make you feel like an orphan hiding from God instead of a child being hid safely IN Him!

“God spoke: Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature…God created human beings; He created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them…” Genesis 1:26-28 MSG

You see, Adam and Eve were already created in His image! They were perfect and had the most incredible relationship with the One who loved them perfectly! As a matter of fact, God loved them so much He created them with free will to choose His love. And choosing God’s love for us always leads us to trust Him.

But when the Liar twisted God’s words and deceived His children, sin came in and affected all men and all of Earth. And at that moment, they sewed their fig leaves in their own self effort trying to take care of their sin and they hid themselves! Why? Because guilt and fear had entered their hearts…and they felt ashamed! And shame will cause us to try and cover our “heart stuff”  or punish ourselves for it and hide.

So when they heard God’s voice calling to them, the image they now bore of Him in their damaged hearts was distorted. And what they heard was an angry voice. They were now afraid of the One who gave them the breath of life simply because He wanted to share His love with them and be with them. But God wasn’t yelling “Where are you?” with steam shooting out of His nose. He was calling to His children in love, “Where are you?…I miss you!”

Beloved, this is what the voice of your good and loving Father whispers to your heart today and always because He gave up His Glorious Beloved Son for you in the greatest Divine Exchange! This is why He had to cover Adam and Eve with animal skins. It was a picture of His Son’s sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin (Hebrews 9:22).

Here’s your forever good news: Jesus, the perfect spotless Lamb, shed His perfect blood for you completely washing away (not covering-but forever washed away) the sin that never came from you but from Adam. And when He was raised from the dead to justify you, you were raised in Him, clothed, not with the fig leaves of self effort, but with Christ and His righteousness alone! So that you and I could never again hide from Him, God caused us to be hidden IN Him through the finished work of His Son.

“For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3 AMP

Beloved, you are found safely in Him! Jesus is your Hiding Place! There is nothing more to fear because the second Adam’s perfect love and once-and-for-all sacrifice completely reversed what the first Adam did in the garden (And then some, but we won’t cover that here). He brought you home to Daddy God’s Presence where there is perfect peace and endless favor and intimacy!

If you’ve never accepted Jesus into your heart, run into His! He’s calling you! His open arms of love are waiting to embrace you! If you are a believer, there is NOTHING you could ever do or fail to do that could change His love for you expressed in what He did for you on your behalf at the cross. There is NO guilt, NO shame and NO condemnation for you ever!!! There is only an endless ocean of grace in His Hiding Place.

You just can’t add to His finished work. It’s not about your performance, but His! He wants you to relax and feel at home in the Secret Place of His love and simply trust; trust in His love, His goodness, His protection and His provision.

“You are my hiding place; You, Lord, protect me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance…” Psalm 32:7 AMP

No matter what you’re going through today, the One who seeks you out calls to you: “Arise My beautiful one, come to Me…My dove in the clefts of the Rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show Me your face, let Me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” Song of Songs 2:10-14

Resting In His Love,

Annalee Reyes