Friday, 15th January 2021 –Hiding

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            In my last blog, I made these statements: 

“Recently, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about leadership.  My initial reaction is to cringe, and hope I can continue to avoid the idea of stepping into a leadership position. 

                However, as reported in Matthew 25:14–30 and Luke 19:11–27, Jesus teaches us that the wicked servant will lose not only the talent he was given, but also lose everything that goes with it.  The wicked servant had a false idea about the Master, which is why he hid.”

                This got me thinking about hiding.  Hiding is as old as the Garden of Eden.  Eve was an impressionable innocent.  She didn’t understand what the consequences of disobedience would mean.  No one before her had known the difference between good and evil.  With cunning guile, the beautiful serpent led Eve into the act that opened her eyes.  She, in turn, shared the forbidden fruit with Adam.  From that moment on, the education of good and bad began.

                Adam and Eve hid, because they knew they had changed.  But WHY did they hide?  Why do we hide from God?  Satan had deceived Eve and Adam, by misrepresenting God’s character to them.  Since then, mankind has been hiding from God. 

                Because we believe lies about God.  In Luke’s version of the parable of the minas, he reports the wicked servant said; “I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.” 

We conceal ourselves, because our limited minds have created an image of God as a severe judge; a strict, humourless parent.  We are afraid of punishment; trying to avoid the consequences of our wrong choices.  We believe that God is unfair, waiting to smite us for our indiscretions.

Not only do we try to secret ourselves away from God, but we do our best to camouflage ourselves from others.  Most difficult of all, we attempt to mask who we are from ourselves.

Fear is a strong motivator.  We want to avoid pain—the judgement of others; the rejection of people; being misunderstood.  So, we allow life’s boot-camp strip away our own identity, making us to don the uniform of conformity.  Or we try to be outlandish; in our dress, in our language, in our behaviour—rejecting others before they treat us dismissively and devaluating us. 

From birth to adulthood, we are exposed to ideas, and have experiences that affect how we see ourselves.  Because of immaturity, lack of skill and because we are taught to respect our parents, teachers, mentors, coaches…some of those ideas get so deeply implanted we believe lies about ourselves. 

We think we are stupid—when we just learn or view the world differently.  We think we are never good enough—when we are truly endowed with all we need to become who were created to be.  We think we are ugly—but our beauty is determined by first of all accepting how we are created.  The human body is fascinating, awe-inspiring.  The body has the potential to heal itself.  The mind is full of mystery, mystique, and power.  And the human spirit is eternal, indomitable.   

As I’ve thought about fear, I’ve realised there is a strong association between fear and distrust.  When we hide, we are choosing not to trust.  Or, we hide because any trust we may have has not been validated. 

Interestingly, God chose to trust mankind.  What a shocking idea!  The All-Powerful God, the God of Creation beyond our wildest imagination, knew that there would be men and women who would own truth. 

He knew that there would be human beings who would look at the skies, and see that the heavens declared God’s message to the world.  The Father knew there would be souls who would dream, and believe it was possible to see dreams come true.

 The Creator, so enchanted with His creation, chose to entrust Himself into the world.  Knowing beforehand that all that is evil, negative, painful, ugly would be forced upon Him.  But for the joy set before Him, chose to ignore and scorn the shame of the cross.

Why did Jesus entrust Himself to mankind?  Because He shows us how to embrace love.  He embraced us, so that we could experience embracing being Devine.  He showed us the truth about the Father in Heaven.  By His example, he shows us how to walk in the light, reject fear, and hide no more.