I love the game hide and seek.  There is just something thrilling about both hiding and seeking. The seeker has to count to ten while the hider has to find a spot within the boundary, get out of sight and stay very still and very quiet which is nearly impossible if you have a dog or small child hiding with you.  And of course, if found, there are shrieks of joy and surprise by both seeker and sought.

Seeking is just as delightful. Looking under and behind things, for clues leading us to the hidden one. A foot sticking out from under something, a door ajar; and sometimes we miss the person hiding in plain sight, like missing the forest for the trees. But the best part of seeking is the joy of discovery.

We have a God who both hides and seeks. He hides himself in the most amazing ways, such as the complexity of DNA or the life-giving invisible breath he breathes into our nostrils. He is all-powerful putting it on display for all to see in a gorgeous sunset, majestic mountain or a starlit night.  Showing his faithfulness in the reliability of the sunrise bursting forth in a powerful blaze of glorious light day after endless day. He hides in the simple faith of a child, or the complexity of the human body. This hidden God is a God who delights when his children (that’s us!) discover knowledge (which is what the word science means, by the way) about him and the universe he created for us. He smiles when we stumble upon the reality of who he is and what he has done and continues to do behind the scenes for each and every one of us.

And yet the Hidden One is also the Seeker, seeking to draw us to him as a hen draws her chicks safely under her wings.  He coaxes and longs for us to, of our own choosing, enter into relationship with him and draw near to his powerful, protective presence. He loves, blesses and provides for us and most of the time we are too busy or too blind to see him at work in our lives.  God is a God who treasures us so much he would never force us into relationship and his love hidden in plain sight, knowing that true love must be a free choice since love by compulsion is not love.

The best measure of value is price one is willing to pay for the object of their desire.  We were bought at a great price, through the life, death, blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And when this truth is found by a human heart, the discovery brings shrieks of surprise and joy to both seeker and sought.

Happy seeking and finding.

Be joy filled always,

Christine Davis