When my siblings and I were young and visited Grandma and Grandpa’s house we often played the game Hot and Cold. One of us hid an object while the others hid our eyes. When we started to find the hidden object, we were given clues. The Hider would tell us if we were hot, meaning we were getting closer to the hidden object, or cold, meaning we were moving away from the hidden object. Those of us seeking the object desired to find it! Once found there was always hooping and hollering, as Grandma said, in excitement of the find.
Games of hide and seek can be great fun for children. But what happens as we get older? Do we ever stop playing the physical games of Hide and Seek or Hot and Cold and discover that from time to time we hide our most vulnerable selves from others? Sometimes we may hide our true selves so that we look good – we meet cultural standard in our behavior or other’s expectation. When we live one way and our timid heart leans another direction we engage others with a false self – that is one that looks good on the outside while the true self is too timid or buried in habitual living to be expressed.
That makes me wonder if we have ever hidden from God. Maybe it is hiding a part of our self we would rather not look at or remember.
Today’s Scripture
Adam and Eve were hiding! They were not playing a game with God. Genesis 3:8 states that
“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”
Why did they hide from God? Did they feel guilty? Had God asked something of them that they did not feel capable of doing? Did they believe a false narrative about themselves and the thought crossed their mind that they were not good enough to keep company with God? Were they overcome by the thought of what God might asked of them? Did they have false assumptions about how God would react? Or maybe they just felt too vulnerable – naked before God.
I find what happens next in the Scripture to be so informative about God’s true nature. Genesis 3:8-15 continues with God asking a question. “Where are you?”, God asked. If God already knows everything why would God, have asked where Adam and Eve were? In response to that query, I believe that God was gifting them with an opportunity to be honest with God. God also sought to be with them even though God already knew what they had done with the apple. God simply desired to be in their presence.
Today’s Prayer Practice
In preparation for today’s blog, I looked up synonyms for the word hidden. The list is quite extensive! A few synonyms are: Concealed, covered, veiled, buried, camouflaged, shrouded, cloaked, unseen, eclipsed, unnoticeable, out of sight, out of view . . .
We have a few wonders this day for our Examen.
- When have you hidden your truest self from God? Why? What was that like for you and how did it impact your relationship with God, self, and others? What were the results of your hiding from God?
- As you think about how your lived faith today, would any of the synonyms from the above list ever appear describing your daily engagement with others? Ask yourself with each synonym: How have I (synonym) my relationship with God and faith today? For example: Have you ever camouflaged your faith to fit in with others? What do you discover? How is God seeking to be with you?
Once you Examen your hidden aspects of faith and relationship with God, offer a prayer of possibility for God’s compassion and mercy.
Enjoy praying.
