No Hiding Place

Hiding from God

Jeremiah 23:24 "Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord."

When I was much younger, I had a fledgling faith. I knew the Lord but I really didn’t know Him. I knew of Him but I knew nothing of the person of God. I certainly had heard of the Holy Spirit but I had no concept of Him as one who I could know. I was raw and green, and my faith wouldn’t stand up to any bumps and even less to any bruises.

So when I ran into the storm, although I felt His presence with me very strongly, I thought He was only there because my praying friend had “brought Him along” !! Yes, I was that naive. The storm was of such severity that I ended up running away from God for the next 20 years. Now I can look back and know the truth of Jeremiah 23:24. Then I didn’t want to face God at all and I thought I could hide away from Him.

He spoke to me during this time and I knew it full well too. I always read my Bible and I always sensed His presence when I sought after Him. He even gave me my first truly memorable verse then – Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Yes, He even told me, through His Word, that I could never be separated from Him.

The realisation of the truth of Psalm 139:7-10 came later “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,  Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

Thank God I am now in the position that I have no wish ever to be trying to get away from God again. Running away from God just doesn’t work as He always knows where you are, and He can always communicate with you, and you with Him. Part of our ministry now is to reconcile folk to God. To repair their faith, to rebuild their trust, to declare ‘no hiding place’ with God. We can do this now from experience.

You see, God even uses the dark days to shed light into dark corners. He uses our dark spots to shine light into others dark places so as to help us lead them back into His marvellous light.

Isn’t that the sort of God you want to serve?