By Rev. Aidan Moon

The God Who Seeks Us

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

“And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’”

– Genesis 3:8-9, English Standard Version

Earlier this month, I reflected on the hiddenness of God and how God’s mystery is a mercy. But there is a different kind of hiding – we seek to hide from God. It’s really a sort of silly concept for humans to try to hide from God. When I play hide-and-seek with my kids, they are not very good at hiding. I may call out “Where are you?” but I typically have a pretty good idea what’s under this pile of blankets. Nonetheless, I seek them.

Our hide-and-seek with God has higher stakes. Most often, this is motivated by shame. We see who we are and what we have done, and we try to hide ourselves. But can we really hide from God? Even if we find ourselves like lost sheep in the wilderness, we have a God who seeks us. And a God who knows it all, even if we try to cover our eyes and plug our ears and act like he doesn’t exist. He knows our shame. He knows what we have done – how we have hurt others or how we have been hurt ourselves. And God asks “Where are you?” not because he does not know, but because he wants us to answer. He wants us to answer and to, in honesty, be restored to him.

God has pursued us – Jesus has descended even into the depths of suffering and hell to follow humanity to the full end of our shame. He has borne your shame, so you no longer have to hide your true self from your God – as if you could. He calls out “Where are you?” so that you might say, “Here am I, Lord.”

“Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.”

– Psalm 139:7-10, English Standard Version

Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado