"And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
If you watch young children play hide and seek, they will scurry into some corner or behind a curtain. As the seeker comes clomping into the room, the child screws up his or her eyes and tries to be both very little indeed and entirely invisible. It’s almost as if the thought process is “if I can’t see someone, I can’t be seen”. It doesn’t work. The scuffed shoes poking out from the bottom of the curtains gives all away. Back they are drawn, and the child - eyes firmly closed - is revealed to the world.
In Psalm 139 we read these words:
“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. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Some might find this idea that God sees all a threatening one. There is nowhere to hide! It is true that when you realise that the things you hide from others are known to God it can give you pause for thought. But then, the realisation that regardless of this Christ still died to gain your forgiveness dawns. What Grace that is!
And then you realise that this also means that you are never beyond the reach of God’s comfort and presence. That you are never alone, or unseen. That God is a “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 40:1).
However much you screw up your eyes, you are not out of the sight of God. That, though, should be a comfort!
