Since changing jobs three years ago, my favorite change has been my ability to come home for lunch. I love spending a few minutes with my family around the table at lunch. They tell me about all of their adventures of the morning and there are times when I am able to help them with a quick train setup or they are able to show me their latest block-building creation.
When I walk into the house through the garage I won’t find my kids at the table anymore. In the distance and often muffled I will hear the arm of a chair hit a wall and hushed voices trying to whisper accompanied by giggling. Rachel’s usually either sitting at the table where the kids were eating or finishing lunch preparations for them and every day it’s the same comment.
“I don’t know where the kids are?” she’ll say with a smile on her face.
The kids are hiding from me.
Our kitchen table faces the street so when they see my car drive up they get out of the chair and dash into their room. For the first few months, I couldn’t even take off my shoes before I’d hear Elias running around the corner.
“Found you!” he’d shout and then when I’d respond he would laugh and run away. Linnea would then come running out of her hiding spot laughing as well.
Over time, they’ve gotten better at being hidden when I come home for lunch. Elias still doesn’t give me enough time to find him, but he’s doing his best to keep the game interesting for longer. Linnea is good about waiting until I find her.
But here’s the thing, it’s not difficult to find them since they hide in the same one or two spots every day. I love the game so much that I try to keep playing as long as the kids will let me. I will go into rooms where they aren’t just to hear them laugh about how they’ve done such a great job of hiding from me. In reality, they are in the same place they were yesterday.
Our walk with Jesus sometimes feels like that I think. We are called to seek God and then we will find God. At the same time, God is seeking after his children. In Genesis 3, after Adam and Eve took a bite of the forbidden fruit, God calls out to them, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)
God didn’t need to ask the question, God knew that Adam and Eve were hiding, just as I know where my kids are hiding when I come home for lunch. But God was calling out to his people, not to find them, but to make sure they knew he was looking for them. God seeks after his people.
Throughout the Old Testament, the prophets are going to talk about God the shepherd seeking after one of his lost sheep. Ezekiel 34:11 says “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” We serve a shepherd that will leave the sheep he has secured to run after the sheep that have gone astray.
God not only goes after those that have gone astray but he knows the intimate details of our lives, even down to our thoughts.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
-Psalm 139:1-2
And yet, there have been times when I feel like God doesn’t see me and God doesn’t know me. Deep down in my heart, I know that’s not true and in those moments I need to remind myself with scripture. Because God does know me. God does see me. Even in the deepest, darkest valley, God is not only knowledgeable of my whereabouts, but God is also present in those moments.
So today, I am thankful once again for the reminders that my kids give me about my walk with God. Even though they might think they are on their own, that they are hidden, I know where they are - just like God knows where I am even in the darkest valleys.
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Previous 30 Days of Thankfulness posts
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 | Day 22 | Day 23 | Day 24 | Day 25
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