Have you ever looked for something, over and over again, only to become frustrated and annoyed? Well, I am a man, so I know where everything is, always…not! I know, I know, it is just how men are and I own up to it. I have heard these words a few times in my life, “well, if you just move something you would find it”. It isn’t always fair, some things, like my car keys, the tool I need, or my wallet love to play hide-and-seek and they win more often than I do.
In reading a morning devotional by Richard Rohr, I was captured by these words: “We are to seek the hidden God in our world by seeking the hidden God in our lives—living Christ by doing Christ.” A few thoughts struck me regarding this notion. First, we often feel like God is playing hide-and-seek with us. At the moment we most want to find God, God does not seem to be there. Second, the words of Jesus come to mind. When he was asked where he was staying, most often he would say “come and see”.
Consider the words again. We are to seek God by seeking the hidden God in our own lives. Isn’t that the same invitation that Jesus has always given? Come and see. Except, we have looked everywhere…..except inside. God is where God has always been, right there inside of us. The question is, for us, where have we been looking? Perhaps, if we find God in the world, we will find the God hidden within. And, where is God in the world? Look at all of creation, God’s face is always visible, though perhaps most visible in the face of a smiling child.
The second thought matters too, the invitation always to come and see. If you are like me, the most fearsome part of “come and see” is having to look within. I have come to know that the “hidden God” within is usually hidden behind my own shortcomings, my own fears, my own guilt, and my own shame. The game of hide-and-seek is my own invention, not God’s. I am exactly as Adam and Eve when God came to the garden. Every day, I think, God asks me (and perhaps you as well) why are you hiding? Who told you that you are naked?
I think God could have asked another question: “Why are you ashamed?” But we know the answer to that one, don’t we? We are ashamed because we know that we have messed up, sinned, and we cannot stand to face the One who loves us the most. That is not good theology and it is not good for our heart. We need only look inside, to look past ourselves, to see the Risen Christ standing for us and inviting us over and over again to “come and see”.
My keys are always in the last place I looked. Well, really in the last place I expected to find them. Isn’t that us in the presences of the hidden God? Isn’t God always in the place we never expect to find God?
TMM