Hiding in Plain Sight

When I was a small child, I developed the skills to read body language, and became very intuitive about what others were feeling.  When the atmostphere in my household became filled with electricity I would find a place to hide.  We lived in the country and had acreage, so my ability to hide was great.  I remember though as a small child knowing that God was with me.  I learned in Sunday School that God is everywhere in our world, when I was hiding He was there, holding me and protecting me.  Some people find the Omnipresence of God sobering, He sees all, and He is everywhere.

In Psalm 139:7-10 the psalmist is trying to hide from God, but finds that he can not. 

Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even here your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Children do not have the corner on the market when it comes to hiding.  As adults we can tend to hide too.  We have cell phones that supposedly make us more accessible, but they have caller ID making it easy to ignore in-coming phone calls.  How many of us know our neighbors?  There was a time when people knew their neighbors and talked to them face to face.  Now we depend on e-mailing them instead of walking outside and talking over the fence.  Some adults have the tendency of hiding within a crowd, never volunteering to lead anything, only able to stand up as "a we" instead of being able to say I believe.... Yet, no matter how much we hide, God know where we are and what we are doing.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Individually we hide even when we are standing in front of each other.  We may not believe that others care for us, love us, want to help us, so we may tend to push people away, only letting a select few truly near us.  I can tend to be part of this hiding crowd.  Not letting people help me,not letting people see the real me.  Hiding in plain sight.  Not letting God work through other people for me.  I will, if left to my own devices, even begin to think I don't need God, yet there he is, loving me, even when I'm hiding.  The truth of the matter is we're only hiding from ourselves and others, God knows who we are and where we are.  For in Matthew 28:20 Jesus says, "I am with you always."  God is still there walking with us, and will be there with us always.  God is faithful and just, God is everywhere, guiding us and holding us.  His hand will guide me, His Right Hand will hold me fast.