Hiding from God

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" --Genesis 3:8,9 (NIV)


That box of fruit juice was very tempting. Not tempting to drink, but tempting to jump upon with all my might. I was only 11 years old and the time, and hadn't really thought much about the laws of physics that would determine how the energy and force of my foot would affect the juice box.


SQUEEEEEET!

There was a split second of sheer delight followed by a decidedly unpleasant sinking feeling. My cheeks flushed as red as the juice that now covered most of my friend's clothing. I knew I was in deep, dark trouble when our moms came to pick us up from school. Thankfully, our mothers didn't arrive at the same time, and I was able to conceal my guilt for a little while longer. As soon as we got home, I took off on my bike, hoping that the situation would be forgotten and I would avoid punishment for my little stunt.

Not so. After more than an hour of riding around aimlessly, I finally went home. My mom met me at the door with "the look" and stern tone as she said "Kristen's mom called. Where were you? What did you do?"

We all try to hide from the stupid things we do. We know full well when we've done something that displeases God, and we attempt to conceal our guilt by concealing ourselves. We try to hide, hoping that maybe this time God didn't notice our sin. Perhaps we think that as time passes, he may just decide to forget about being angry with us for our disobedience. That may be how we are used to people or parents dealing with us, but it's not how God deals with his children.

When my mom firmly demanded that I tell her what I had done, it wasn't because she didn't already know. She knew exactly what had happened; she had already heard it from my friend's mom during a phone call. Still, she needed me to confess and explain not only what I had done, but why I thought I needed to hide because of it.

When we realize our sin our natural impulse is to conceal it or cover it up. However, it's impossible to hide from God. He knows our every thought and every action. Even so, he wants us to come to him and confess our sin. When Adam and Eve hid from God, they didn't really expect that God wouldn't find them. When God called to them saying "Where are you?" he wasn't unaware of where they were or what they had done. When we own up to our ill-conceived and thoughtless actions, and are ready to bear the consequence of our sins, we need to come before God. He is willing to forgive us for everything, but not if we don't ask it of him. He longs to give us the peace and comfort of being absolved from our sins, but that doesn't happen automatically.

Even when we confess and tell God about what we've done, we are still subject to the consequences of our actions. Just because I explained to my mom about the juice box, didn't mean that I wasn't going to be dismissed without some sort of discipline. I had to write a note of apology to Kristen and her mom, and offer to replace the clothing that had been ruined by the juice. My apology certainly didn't remove the cranberry stains from Kristen's pants, but it did demonstrate that I was willing to take responsibility for my actions. That experience served to remind me that I cannot hide from Mom, and I certainly can't hide from God.