I sent that message to my best friend yesterday. She has a busy life and so do I, but we do our best to stay connected. I forgot they were away in a remote location without cell, so no wonder I was saying “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Those words are actually from one of my earliest memories, playing \u201cHide and Seek\u201d. Now, my fondest memories are playing it with children and grandchildren.
My memory of playing the game was the nervousness that would build as the \u201cit\u201d person started counting. I\u2019d run looking for the spot that would conceal me perfectly. Sometimes I\u2019d peek around the corner to see if the \u201cit\u201d person was anywhere near and, oh, that feeling when the \u201cit\u201d person was only a few feet away. My heart would beat faster. Every-so-often I\u2019d get fortunate. They\u2019d keep going, and I\u2019d breathe a quiet sigh of relief. As I stood or crouched there, I would listen for the words I longed to hear — the words I knew meant the game was over. \u201cCome out! Come out! Wherever you are!\u201d When I heard that phrase I knew my hiding place had been successful!
Our Hide and Seek games don’t always stay in our childhood or always stay so fun and innocent. I remember David and how often he was hiding from his enemies. When he wrote Psalm 31, things weren’t going well for him. He was tired, weak, and hurting. His enemies were chasing him, and his friends had let him down. His life was at risk but he was not defenseless. He knew that God was the best source of safety and that a right relationship with Him was the wisest defense strategy. That\u2019s where he found his security. Just as a small child finds hope in calling out for his older brother when threatened by a bully, David called on the name of the Lord. Because he was living in fellowship with Him, he hid in the security of the One who had helped him so many times before.
I remember the one thing that could ruin a good game of Hide and Seek. It was the cheater who peeked while they counted. They always knew where everyone was hiding and was quick to find them. Well, that\u2019s the enemy of our souls who cheats and wants to destroy us. It is the cheater who makes us go into hiding when things don’t go our way and life gets difficult But where we hide can make all the difference. Often, we hide by becoming reclusive \u2013 staying away from fellowship and friendship with others. We may hide in regret for mistakes we\u2019ve made. But today, it’s time to stop playing those games and “Come out. Come out. Wherever you are.”
The cheater-enemy has been caught so we don\u2019t have to stay in hiding places any longer. The Psalmist said, \u201cYou are my hiding place.” (Psalm 32:7) “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High (Psalm 91:1) — NOT he who dwells in the closet of negativity and doubt, but in the shelter of the Most High where we abide under the shelter of the Almighty and we find our strength and hope in Him. David knew where his hiding place was. Are we as quick to seek that same security? God was a sure hiding place for David, and He is also the One we hide in and cling to for our protection. Safety is not found in the absence of danger but in the presence of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I sent that message to my best friend yesterday. She has a busy life and so do I, but we do our best to stay connected. I forgot they were away in a remote location without cell, so no wonder I was saying “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Those words are actually from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12909],"tags":[19,13655,13651,102,13657,1966,3013,13653,13652,780,13650,1620,13654,13656,554,8879,128],"class_list":["post-10394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hide-and-seek","tag-bible","tag-cheater","tag-come-out","tag-david","tag-defenseless","tag-game","tag-hide-and-seek","tag-hiding-from-enemies","tag-it","tag-most-high","tag-nervousness","tag-presence-of-god","tag-psalm-31","tag-psalmist","tag-safety","tag-unfailing-love","tag-vulnerable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10397,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10394\/revisions\/10397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}