Hide and Seek

From about my age of 10, our family lived right behind the grade school I attended. I could just cross the street, walk up onto school property, cross a ball field, through part of the playground and into the school. Come evening, during warmer seasons, the school ground was still a busy place. Some neighborhood boys played basketball or baseball depending on the season of the year. Most of us engaged in some of the usual childhood games that were so much fun. One of the all time favorites was the game of Hide and Seek. We had to decide boundaries for hiding as the school property took up more space than would be reasonable for the game.

It was the usual one person counting to 50 or 100 and then first looking around for obvious hiders who hadn't gone very far from the seekers tree. It was a good thing if you could run in when the seeker wasn't looking, pat the tree and yell, “Safe.” We would play that until almost dark outside and always had to come running when a parent called for us to come home. That game was my first experience as a seeker. No one had to define the word. It was my job as seeker to find all the hiders I could with as few as possible coming to the tree before I could catch them.

We have spent our lives being seekers. Seekers are those folks who earnestly look for someone or something. Early in life, we seek the right husband or wife for our lives. Many seek out the college to attend or the perfect job. However, among all the seeking we have done, the most important was that of seeking the Lord. We may not have known it, but Scripture has commanded beyond our years that we seek the Lord. That is not only supposed to be just with regard to our salvation, but we are to be seekers of Him all the time. We are told:

Seek ye the Lord while He
may be found, call upon Him
while He is near.
Isaiah 55:6

God always makes Himself available to us and He is ever seeking us as well.

For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost.
Luke 19:10

In that childhood game, I never liked being the seeker...I liked being the hider. I'm afraid there have been times in my life when I have been a hider from God...not open with Him and not in His will where I knew I should be. Still, with His consistent and His undeserved love, He has always come seeking with the leading of His Holy Spirit. Aren't we glad that in our worst spiritual state, He still seeks for us.

There are definite advantages in being seekers of our Heavenly Father. These verses fall under the category of the “Seekers Perks.”

The young lions lack and suffer hunger;
but those who seek the Lord shall not
lack any good thing.
Psalm 34:10

Seek the Lord and live.

Amos 5:6a

Evil men do not understand justice,
but those who seek the Lord
understand all.
Proverbs 28:5

Seek the Lord and His strength;
seek His face evermore!
Psalm 105:4

But from there you will seek the Lord
your God, and you will find Him if you
seek Him with all your heart and with
all your soul.
Deuteronomy 4:29

And most precious...

And you will seek Me and find Me,|
when you search for Me with all
your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

The secret of this verse is not just God's promise that He can be found by us, but we should look at three words in that verse that should stand out...you, you, your. There must be two-way effort...God is always available but we must catch up to where He is. Seeking Him is always going to mean a consistent effort on our part. We have distractions, problems, activities and such that can cause us to loose track of God. We really don't have to look very far to find Him for He is ever-present. We are a very blessed people to have the Abba Father we have, but we must keep seeking.

Father, as a parent would look for a lost child, I know You seek for me when I have neglected You. Thank You for loving me that much and for caring for me when I don't deserve a minute of Your time. I love You. In Jesus' precious name....Amen!