Hide and Seek

Thursday, January 13, 2022 6:55 PM

The January Power of Twelve word is seek.  The scripture reference is;

Matthew 7:7-8; 

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

In thinking about how we seek and find the Lord, I thought about the game we all played as children, Hide and Seek.  Do you remember the thrill of the game?  If you were not the person doing the counting and then the seeking, you were the one running to find the very best place to hide.  It was fun if you were the hider or the seeker.  Hiding required thinking and deciding the best place to hide that your seeker could not find you.  For me I remember trying to find a place where I could wrap up in a little ball, under something or heaven forbid, some place dark!  When the seeker would get close it was all I could do not to laugh, breathe hard or make any kind of noise.  Also remember, if the seeker could not find you then you are the winner!  Being the seeker was just as fun as being the hider.  You could hear the littlest ones breathing or giggling.  Or their feet were sticking out from under whatever they were hiding under.  What a fun childhood game.

In seeking the Lord there is no hiding going on.  I think that sometimes we think God is hiding from us but he is not.  Sometimes he is just quiet. But there are times we do try to hide from him.  We don't want to tell him what we are doing, why we are doing it, and just do not want to hear from him.  We are in hiding but he can still hear our every breathe and see our feet sticking out from under the table.  The sooner we learn not to hide from the Lord the better our relationship with him becomes.  The sooner we are honest about everything we are thinking and feeling the easier it is for him to come and help or just come and love on us.

This is what a father does.  Always loves no matter what kind of trouble his child may be in.  He never gives up on us therefore we never give up on him.

I have been seeking the Lord for over 4 decades now and feel that he and I are in a rock solid relationship. I cannot breathe without him. The childish games have been set aside and we walk together hand in hand.  My days of hiding are long gone.  He knows exactly who I am.  I on the other hand, still want to know him more deeply. I want to hear his still small voice speaking words of wisdom and encouragement to me.  I still want to see his miracles and feel the power of the Holy Spirit move in my life and in the lives of those I love.  I still seek more of him.

Each one of us who love the Lord will always hear his soft call and his voice saying,

"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:13 (NKJV)

Being Chosen

We are like old furniture that needs to be restored and made new again.

We are like the ore that contains gold.  It needs to be heated over and over again until the gold becomes pure.

Sometimes we forget how precious we are to God.  We are his chosen child.  Throughout the years there was something pulling at our hearts and our spirits.  It was the call of the Creator.  I AM! The God of the Universe.  Sometimes we find it hard to believe He would want someone as faulty and impure as us.  The devil is the one who puts the doubts in our minds and tells us we are not good enough for the love of God.  This is the biggest lie of all!

If we can ‘hear the call’ of God we can certainly believe and have faith that God chosen us because He loves us!  He is never wrong.

Matthew 11:15 (NKJV)- He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Matthew 13:9 (NKJV)- He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Mark 4:23 (NKJV)- If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 7:16 (NKJV)- If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Mark 4:9 (NKJV)- And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Deuteronomy 29:4 (NKJV)- Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.

Matthew 13:43 (NKJV)- Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Psalms 10:17 (NKJV)- Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear,

Ezekiel 12:2 (NKJV)- “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.

Luke 8:8 (NKJV)- But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Psalms 17:6 (NKJV) - I have called upon You, for You will hear me, O God; Incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech.

Isaiah 55:3 (NKJV) - Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David.

Chosen and Chaos

Throughout time man has been chosen by God to do specific tasks for Him.  After the man has accepted the Lord's hand on his life the mission begins.  Some of the missions have been huge and life changing.  Some of them are not so huge.  Some of them we know nothing of because they are small and only known by the few who have been involved or touched by the mission assigned to them. 

Here are examples of several of the chosen and their chaotic lives after that:

Abraham was chosen to have as "many descendants as there are stars in the heavens" and be the "father of many nations". Genesis Chapters 15-17 tells the story of God's covenant with Abraham.

Genesis  15: 5 (NKJV) - Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Genesis 17:5 (NKJV) -No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

The Chapters in Genesis reveal the chaos that ensued after the covenant was placed between God and Abraham.  Trouble with Sarah and then between Sarah and Hagar. Trouble between Issac and Ishmael.  Trouble with other family members.  Trouble with other nations and people.  Life became chaotic for Abraham but the Lord remained with him and lead him through all of the trials and hardships and of course now, thousands of years later, we see that God kept His promise (covenant) with Abraham. Life was very chaotic for a very long period of time after God chose Abram to become Abraham to lead the chosen people of the One True God.

Moses was chosen to get the "Chosen People" out of slavery in Egypt.  Once Moses accepted the mission chaos ensued and persisted for decades.  The Pharaoh and his army tried to kill them all.  Because of the rebellion and faithlessness of the people they all wandered in a barren desert for decades and were never allowed into the land promised to them by God. Moses died in the desert along with his brother and sister who were also chosen of God. Life was very chaotic for Moses and those who followed him after they were called out of bondage. 

Joshua was chosen to lead the people into the Promised Land and to conquer and destroy all the evil in the land.  He only did part of what was commanded and chaos ensued.  Many years passed and the Chosen People became infected by the evil that was allowed to continue in the lands. More chaotic times for the chosen people who would not follow the commandments given to them by God.

All of the Prophets were chosen and given the tasks to warn the people of what was to come if they did not return their hearts to God and worship only Him.  When Prophets such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, spoke about the wrath of God that would come if they did not return their hearts to Father God and follow His commandments, chaos ensued and they were hated by the people. Because of the people's hard hearts they were scattered across the lands and again spent time in slavery to other nations for hundred of years.

In the chaos of the times the people cried out for a king to lead them.  God gave them King Saul who did not work out quite the way the people wanted.  They cried and begged for more.  King David was chosen by God. His life quiet as a shepherd in the field was gone. His life was filled with chaos after that.

In scripture everything goes quiet for several hundred years but history proves these years were filled with chaos.

When Jesus came to earth to offer the final sacrifice for mankind, He chose people to learn His ways, teach His ways and walk with Him.  For three years the Apostles lived with Him on a daily basis and for much of that time they still did not understand why He was here and exactly what He was doing or saying.  There was chaos while Jesus preached and taught the people. Then He was crucified.  The Apostles scattered and hid.  Though Jesus came back, spoke encouragement to them and lived with them for a short time He left once again. And though He sent the Holy Spirit to be with them  there was still chaos.  The Apostles and followers of "The Way" were persecuted, hunted, imprisoned, killed.  Even through all of the chaos, people still came to accept the promises of Jesus to forgive them and to save them from this chaotic world into a new world of love, peace, and beauty with no chaos when time on this earth was finished!

Chosen. Chaos. Chosen. Chaos. Chosen. Chaos.  It seems to be a pattern we can learn from.  For us to desire to be chosen by God to be His people, we have to be willing to admit and accept that more than likely chaos will ensue.  We are not going to be any different than any of the others who have been chosen.  Any person that comes to the Lord after heeding His call to accept salvation and walk with Him have to be willing to understand the walk is not an easy one from the human perspective.  The world belongs to the evil one and he roams looking to continue chaos wherever and whenever possible.  We who have been chosen and accept the tasks of the Lord, should all come to the understanding that this is a war, not just a fight, between good and evil.  It has been this way since the beginning when the original man was deceived by the evil one.  Chaos ensued when they were asked to leave the Garden because of their disobedience.

Being chosen by the Creator of the Universe is amazing.  Being chosen by the Creator of the Universe is messy.  He wants us to spread His message of love and forgiveness to others.  Many of them do not want to hear it and will persecute those who try.  But there will be those who hear and receive the message.  They will understand that they have been chosen to be a part of the kingdom of God.  Many will try and fail again and again and wonder why their lives still contain chaos.  Many will not be able to endure the chaos that comes with walking in the territory of Father, Son, and Spirit.  They will lose heart. 

But.....

When we go to scripture and read the full stories of the chosen we can see there were miracles.  There were healing's.  There were promises fulfilled.  There was honor bestowed.  There was love and mercy.  There was the Hand of God moving for and with His chosen people regardless of the faithlessness and rebellion.  The same is true today when we truly look and watch for God's hand moving.  There are still miracles today.  The world will not tell you about them but the people will rejoice when one of those miracles touches their lives and they will shout for joy from the rooftops!  They will not allow the world to silence them! There are those who have been held in the clutches of the devil for years and whose spirits are awakened by the Spirit of God and will sing praises for the rest of their lives to any who can hear and will listen!  

Since the very beginning when God breathed life into mankind all He wanted was a people to share life and relationship with.  All He wanted to do was love and adore.  But He did not want people to love Him because He said so.  He wanted people to want to love Him!  He was not going to force anyone to love Him.  I wonder if this freewill clause also holds a chaos clause.  If so, He is the one who sets all plans in place. therefore trust is the issue.  

Psalms 33:10 (NIV) - The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) - In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.

The chosen of God will have chaos in their lives.  It's part of the plan. The chosen of God rejoice even in the chaos.  That's the plan and it's been shown throughout time that the plan is a good one!  We praise God in the quiet, peaceful times and we praise God in the chaos.