Hide and Go Seek

Psalm 119:11-12 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

A fun game for kids is the game Hide and Go Seek. Generally, the game is started when someone is selected to be “it” and they have to hide their eyes and count to a number like 100 while all the others go find a place to hide. When the person is finished counting they call out, “Ready or not, here I come!” and then go look for the others that are hiding. The first person they find is “it” for the next round while the last person found is the winner.

A good Hide and Go Seek player looks for a hiding place that is hard to find and offers the maximum amount of concealment. They hide in the deepest reaches of their hiding place so that they cannot be easily seen. The person that is “it” must then look hard to find out where they are hidden.

Our Key Bible Passage tells us about hiding God’s Word in our heart. In the context of previous passages, doing this has an effect on us in that it changes our hearts. Our changed, or upright hearts, then serve as a basis from which God changes our lives. However, to change our lives we must know what is in our hearts and what needs changed. Furthermore, when it comes to knowing our hearts, who is doing the searching and what will they find? This question in life leads many of us to want to go to great lengths to “find our self.”

The problem with seeking to find our self is that our expectation and ability to know where to look and recognize who we are or accept what we find does not match reality. Instead, our expectation matches what we hope we will find. When our expectation does not match reality, it causes unsettled angst and trouble in our minds. Like the person that is “it” in Hide and Go Seek, we then look from place to place hoping to find someone that is not there.

The question we have to ask is, who is “it?” Are we “it”, hopelessly and blindly searching for someone we do not know? Or, is God “It” and has the vision and ability to understand where to look and know who He will find? Fortunately, the Bible teaches us that God can see into the deepest reaches of our heart and can test us to show who we really are (Jeremiah 17:9-10). His expectations are based on reality of what is, not our hope of what we are. Therefore, as we hide God’s Word in our heart, it measures us against God’s standards, not our own. It reveals who we are and where we are hiding with the light of His holiness.

This is because as God, His Word is active and alive and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is able to divide our soul and spirit from the very joints and marrow of our bodies. It is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our heart, revealing to us who we really are. It enables us to change so that we live up to God’s standards and see God as the “It” in our lives Whom puts an end to our constant hiding and go seeking of self.

Let us pray that God examines our heart and teaches us who we are and what He wants us to be. Let us seek an unhidden openness before the Lord as He blesses us and teaches us His statutes. In doing so, instead of giving up when we cannot find our self, we can call out to God, Blessed art thou O LORD for finding me! Praise be to God Whom makes us all winners.