Why Hide?

Jeremiah 23:23-24  Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?  (24)  Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

As I decided to read a little more in my Chronological Bible this morning, I came across the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah and spent some time contemplating the many great truths for us today (So much so, that I may preach through this chapter sometime soon!). I wanted to share with my readers these two verses, mainly because they parallel what we have been studying in Sunday School.

There once was a couple who thought they no longer needed God. Now, I am sure they did not think that way outwardly, or ever even verbalized it, but that was the case inwardly. They had wonderful fellowship with God, the likes of which no one ever had before. God had richly blessed them with an abundance of provision and love and only had one restriction. 

Yet, soon after there comes along someone who begins to get them to doubt that God's way was the only way. Soon thereafter they make the choice to make their own decisions on what is right and what is wrong and wilfully disobey God. Quickly they fall under conviction and begin to try to formulate their own means of reconciliation by a covering of fig leaves. But this covering was not enough, and when they hear the LORD God walking in the garden towards them, they hide in the trees of the garden.

I am sure that most of my readers by now realize that I am speaking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The amazing thing is that some 6,000+ years later man is still trying to hide their sin from God. First, a small covering of fig leaves. And when that does not work, we go for a forest of cover -- but are still naked to God in our sin and shame.

Let each of remember that there is no place we may hide from the presence of God and no way for us to fool Him with our feeble works of righteousness. Wherever you may be at in your fellowship/relationship with God, realize this: God sees you where you are and loves you in spite of it. Do not let your past failures and mistakes keep you from having the fellowship/relationship that your Heavenly Father wants with you. Realize about yourself what God already knows: you are a sinner saved by His wondrous grace. Then, repent of that sin and return to Him. 

His love is greater than our sin, and His Grace reaches down further to bring us out of the miry clay.