“… and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:8).”
What a heartbreaking verse for God. He has shown up on a normal day at His regular time expecting to hang out with His newly created people. But they are nowhere to be found. They are hiding.
And we’ve been hiding ever since.
In Exodus we see God performing multiple miracles, signs, and wonders so His people can be with Him at Mt. Sinai and in the Promised Land. Yet, “When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
They hid from God.
We see this again in 1 Samuel. God has performed even more miracles, signs, and wonders, and the people are now free and in possession of the Promised Land. Everything should be right with the world when we read, “now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have (1 Samuel 8:5).” Still more hiding.
A Heartbreaking Pattern
This is a clear, reoccurring pattern throughout Scripture: God showing up in the cool of the day and us humans completely missing the point. When Jesus’ weeps over Jerusalem in Matthew 23:37-38, it is the hiding that breaks His heart.
But I believe God is done with the hiding. I believe He’s about to shake – and is already shaking – all that keeps us from Himself. He is jealously seeking a relationship with each of us individually in a way like no other period in His Story. Why and why now?
Because we might be finally figuring out that there is work to be done that cannot be done at the national, international, and global level. It can only be done one-on-one and in community: in homes, in businesses, in schools, and in towns. It can only be done by human beings that are connected to human beings who quit hiding not only from God, but from the truth and responsibility of being Created in the image of God.
It’s time to stop hiding.