Why Hide?

 “Where can I go from your Spirit?

        Where can I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7)

Living in the south, we get our fair share of anoles. No, that’s not a curse word – it’s a lizard, silly. These lizards are ubiquitous in our yards around here. You’ll find them on plants, climbing fences, sunning on the rail of a deck, crawling up a window. I used to see them a lot on our air conditioning unit. 

One of their more pronounced characteristics is the ability to change the color of their skin to blend in with the surface on which they are resting. They will darken to a shade of brown if they are on a tree, or on a wood fence. Their normal green color enables them to hide on the surface of leaves and garden plants. I’m pretty sure they don’t turn into crazy shades of other colors, because their natural habitat consists mostly of browns and greens. 

I’m not a biologist, but I bet their ability to blend in with their environment not only makes it easy for them to catch an unsuspecting fly or moth that accidentally gets too close, but it also enables them to hide from birds, possums, cats, and other animals that might want to snack on them.

It makes me call to mind the words of David, when he noted that there was no way he could hide from God: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?” 

The implied answer to those questions is, “Nowhere.” There is nowhere any of us can go where we can hide from God.

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, people have tried to hide from God. I guess it must be some sense of shame. Turns out, hiding from God is an exercise in futility. There is nowhere we can go where we can hide from God. There is no darkness so dark that God cannot see us. There is no distance so far that it is beyond the reach of God’s presence.

But why would any of us want to hide from God?!

There is nowhere any of us can go where we can hide from God.

Which begs the question, Why would you ever want to hide from God? I mean, I get it. Maybe you feel like you have failed God, or that God is out to get you (because that is what some people have told you). Maybe you’re burdened with guilt and shame. Maybe you just don’t like the kind of God that others talk about, and so you want nothing to do with their God.

But still, why would any of us want to hide from God?

Why would we want to hide from one who is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love?

Why would we want to hide from one who works all things for the good for those who love him?

Why would we want to hide from one who promises, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”?

Why would we want to hide from one who loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life?

Why would we want to hide from one who promises that there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from his love?

Think about it: Why would you ever want to hide from that kind of God?