8-16-2018

Good Morning All,

       Genesis 3:9; “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

     My wife and I enjoy babysitting our grandchildren.  When our oldest grandson was about two he loved to play hide and seek.  Most of the time he liked to play “hide” as in hide and go seek.  So he would hide and I counted. One time was particularly interesting. He usually ran to the bedroom and hid behind the side of the bed.  But one time, he did something different.  He hid behind a chair in the area where the TV is.  He went behind it and sat down; you actually couldn’t see him.

     So I started wandering towards the bedroom, “Where’s Blake?”  He doesn’t quite have the theory of the game down as he was giggling and laughing the whole time but we looked.  As I came back into the TV area, I picked up a stuffed dog that Grandma got him because it is the dog from one of his favorite books “Charlie”.  Charlie is a basset hound who sniffs out critters on the ranch.  So we had Charlie sniffing for Blake.  He really giggled then and got out and tried to run away with Charlie in “hot pursuit”.

    Now I could have walked over to where he was right away, he can’t really hide from me in my house but where is the fun in that?  Yet in his mind, he is hidden.  I had a nephew who thought he could hide by placing a towel over his head.  Everyone in the room could watch him but he thought he was hidden.  In many ways, just like my nephew or grandson, we think we can hide from God and it just doesn’t work.

    God comes looking for us.  Now he could just come up to us and pick us up but that would probably scare us to no end.  So he calls out to us.  He calls us by his Gospel, that message of salvation that we receive because of Jesus death and atonement.  He calls to us through this Word and he calls to us in his physical Word, the body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion.  He calls us with his love, “Where are you?”  He seeks us out in order to bring us back into his loving presence.

    “Where are you?” is out of God’s favor because of our selfishness or greed, our inward desires for our own pleasures.  So we try and hide from God either because we think we have to or want to but we try to hide and God sees us the whole time.  “Where are you?” is really in God’s loving arms we just don’t always see it.  God is holding us much like we hold a small child trying to calm them down.

    So the next time you wonder “where am I?” look to the empty cross and know that you are in the loving arms of your forgiving Father.  Look to the open and empty tomb and see what glory waits us.  “Where are you?”  You are in God’s grace so rest in his assurance of his mercy.

Father, there are so many times that I want to hide because of fear or pain.  Yet if I could hide, all I would feel is the pain.  Thank you for finding me with your love and for keeping me safe in your loving mercy.  Be with those who feel the need or desire to hide from you.  Give them the calming peace by your Holy Spirit.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret