Eternal Hide And Seek

Psalm 34:4 – I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. (KJV)

Have you ever played a game of hide and seek? The game is well known: several people go and hide, and then one person sets off on a mission to find them, so that on the next turn the one who did the seeking can hide. I have many fond memories of playing hide and seek all throughout my childhood, and even into my teenage years.

Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who are playing a much more serious game of hide and seek, a game we will call Eternal Hide and Seek.

I am sure we have at some point in our lives heard said, or perhaps even said ourselves, "I'm just going to take some time and try to find myself." I must admit that I never really understood how people could possibly need to find themselves. But I came to realize that what they actually meant was that there was an empty space somewhere inside themselves that they were desperately trying to fill. So off they went into the world, looking for what the world could offer them to fill their void. For some, perhaps, it was travelling, for others school, still for others a new job, or a family. They added more and more things to their lives trying to fill that empty space, but always ended up exactly where they started.

So what is the answer? How can one win this game? The answer is really quite simple. All one has to do is change the object of the search. Can you imagine playing a real game of hide and seek by yourself? You could never win the game, because even if you managed to "find" yourself, you would still be left doing the searching in the next round. That is the same problem that those playing Eternal Hide and Seek face: they find what they were searching for, but it really gains them nothing. The solution is to stop seeking self, and start seeking God. The good news is that He is never more than a prayer away. In Psalm 34, David tells us the result of seeking God. God will always hear our pleas, and He will deliver us from our fears. Verse 10 gives us an even greater promise: "They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing." God will provide us all of the good things that we need in our lives, and all we have to do is seek Him.

Perhaps you are searching for yourself, or perhaps there is just a little empty space somewhere in your life. No matter: seeking God is the answer.

Prayer: Dear Lord, we praise and bless You at all times. We have tasted and seen that You are good. We come now, seeking You and seeking Your deliverance from our fears and troubles, and confess that we cannot find the answers on our own. Please hear our prayers and deliver us. Amen.