Hide and Seek

March 13, 2022

I am up for the weirdest reason. I heard a cat crying. Like crying, crying. Honestly I tried ignoring it and going back to sleep but it (they) kept on crying. So eventually I got up and searched outside. I saw a tangerine stray cat jump off my roof and the crying stopped. But when I went back inside it started up back and so I went searching again because I wasn’t seeing one of our cats (so she could have been in the parents room and I did not check there because I didn’t want to wake anyone up). I’m hoping that she’s hiding somewhere inside (she does that a lot) and didn’t somehow sneak out. 

I pray that she’s okay and not hurt. Thank you Yahweh for caring about the smallest creatures. Thank you for your protection and care. Have got to be honest though: I don’t like rats, snakes, cockroaches and mosquitoes. 

I’m still hearing the cat crying but cannot find it and I’m not sure what to do and another cat has now joined the fracas. I’m still not seeing them but at least I found our cat safe inside. 

Now the dogs are barking at the cats making noise. LOL. Talk about distractions this early Sunday morning. 

No matter what happens around me, I will still praise you. Thank you for being a consistent God, a consistent friend. It’s funny when we think about it, no one (well most people) aren’t afraid of the sun not coming up every day. The assumption is made that it will and we all move accordingly. But yet you have been around longer than the sun, and we find it so easy to doubt whether you are there, whether your presence is here. Even though you’ve always been here. Thank Yahweh for always being here. Thank you for shining on us, for protecting us and keeping us in your will. 

You’re Not Hidden

Thank you for speaking to me. It’s something that is so easy to take for granted or just push aside. Thank you for allowing us (me) to find you. It’s funny, you aren’t hidden the way we think of hidden. Probably best to say you are hidden in plain sight. But the moment we start looking for you, you promised that we would find you (unlike the cats who stay hidden even with the lights on) when we seek you.

Deuteronomy 4:29 – But if you look for the Lord your God when you are among the nations, you will find him whenever you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 

Your presence is everywhere, but can be too easily covered by the very things of this world that you made. But because you are in everything and everywhere you will be found once we are seeking you. But it can’t be half-hearted. It can’t be, “Oh well, let me see if I find Yahweh today. He might be under this rock. He’s not? Shucks, guess I’ll go watch a movie.” So often we dedicate time and energy to other pursuits but when it comes to Yahweh, it is the barest minimum and then stop if it doesn’t seem immediate. But yet we would search diligently for a job, for a spouse, for a dream house and not search for Yahweh who is literally right there once we seek him with our hearts. You know how much energy it takes to find a house? How much gas to visit the different houses, internet bills (for the modern day searchers), but the cost to find Yahweh is a prayer: though that prayer costs more spiritually than any money in the physical. It requires me to surrender everything to you. Thank you for always being found and for accepting my everything. It’s not much, but it’s better in your hands than in mine. 

Amos 5:4, 5, 14 – This is what the Lord says to the nation of Israel: search for me and live! But don’t search for me at Bethel. Don’t go to Gilgal. Don’t travel to Beersheba. Gilgal will certainly go into exile. Bethel will come to nothing. 

Search for good instead of evil so that you may live. Then the Lord God of Armies will be with you, as you have said. 

Easiest Game Ever!

This is literally the easiest game of hide and seek to win. I don’t have to go searching far – where is Gilgal again? I don’t have to travel long distances to find Yahweh. But I do have to look. It’s easy to look at the world around me and see all that Satan has done to warp the world into his image. But he isn’t all powerful and omnipresent. And he isn’t good. When we push past the distractions, we can find good, we can find God. 

Sometimes all it takes is us physically standing still for a moment, quieting our minds and then opening our eyes (both physical and spiritual). Granted don’t necessarily do this while standing in the middle of an intersection, but taking just one moment to pause, invites us into his presence. The world is stripped away and we see God. We see that he was always there. But by taking the time to see him, he can connect directly to us.

There are so many promises wrapped up in seeking Yahweh and finding him.

SIDEBAR: this seek isn’t a one and done thing. The word used refers to “read repeatedly, study”, “to search out a meaning, to frequent.” So this is a continual consistent, daily, hourly seeking. And every time, we will find our way. Every time. Every time we would see more of him: see more details of him.

When we find him and we will, we will live. There’s so much tied up in this four letter word. We would live: we would have a lifetime, we would be sustained, we would be prosperous, we would be revived, we would be encouraged in our spirit, we wouldn’t faint, we would grow and we would be restored. 

Once we find our way, life will never be the same. He wasn’t kidding when he said seek him first and all these things would be added. 

After we have found Yahweh, he then does something “strange.”

Psalm 27:4-5 – I have asked one thing of the Lord. This will I seek: to remain in the Lord’s House all the days of my life in order to gaze at the Lord’s beauty and to search for an answer in his temple. 

He hides me in his shelter when there is trouble. He keeps me hidden in his tent. He sets me high on a rock.

He hides me in his shelter when there’s trouble. He keeps me hidden in his tent. He sets me high on a rock. 

HID/HIDE

Yahweh’s words have so much depth to them. Hid/Hidden is used twice. But they don’t mean exactly the same thing. The first is to hide/to treasure. So it’s not just hiding us, but to keep us carefully, to treasure us. He won’t let anything happen to us. The second hide, refers to conceal. So essentially actually hiding us, where we cannot be seen. He takes care of us while concealing us from those who would harm us. 

And then comes the paradox (when I tell you that Yahweh is complex and marvellous, believe it). He treasures us and conceals us, and then sets us up on a rock. High on a rock. In the end we can’t be missed. It’s as if he is saying, “See? This is what I have done.” But we aren’t lifted up on ourselves, we are said high upon a rock. Who is the rock? Jesus (is the rock on which I stand). It’s actually the seasons in our lives. When we find Yahweh, he shows his love and care for us. Correction – we feel his love and care for us. Because the truth is, he always did but we didn’t see it until. Then he conceals us from those around us. He is still caring for us though but he is also preparing us. He’s setting us on the firm foundation that we need for the next stage, when he then shows to the world what he has done to us, for us. There’s the promise that he can and will do the same for everyone who seeks him. 

We need to come out of hiding (like the cat), seek Yahweh and then allow him to hide us and to work in us. 

Sigh. Good sigh. You never do anything simple when it comes to your people. You don’t just think from one side and leave the rest exposed. You cover us from every angle. You love us completely and your promises are wrapped up so tightly in your love that they cannot be separated. 

Thank you for who you are and for being here where I can find you. Yahweh, I pray for the youths, young adults in this church. I pray that they would seek You and that they would look past the distractions and see you for who you are. That they would find the joy that comes from knowing you. Thank you for your promises to us and for loving us. Thank you for a life in you and for hiding us in you. You are so good and you are good to us. Thank you. 

The More I Seek – Kari Jobe

Of Yahweh’s Promises Playlist

Beach Life!

Beach! I didn’t go camping yesterday but the beach will definitely see me today. I also missed making breakfast yesterday morning so I made it today. I don’t even know if it has a name (it’s basically a concoction) but the closest thing to it would probably be accra, but with egg.

I asked the parents if they wanted to come. I know it wouldn’t be solitude but I also have to realise when they’re feeling left out. So Mom and I are going, Dad says he has a meeting, oh well. 

Why do we always sing about the mountains high and the valleys low? What about the plateaus and the plains? If my life is only highs and lows then I am on an endless roller coaster and that’s not healthy. We need the plateaus: high but level ground that at least you can enjoy the moment for longer than a minute and plateaus can occur when you’re going up the mountain or coming down.

Plains are just as necessary. They’re in between mountains, but they are not valleys. They’re what I would call the everyday of life. You’re moving forward, the view is nice with no major hazards and we need these moments to prepare us. To build our endurance for the climb of the mountains or the descent into the valley.

I wonder if I had to choose which one would I pick? Even a valley (though considered negative in an emotional context) has benefits. Valleys are nutrient rich, usually filled with water or rivers at least. I honestly don’t know if I can choose one spiritually but physically, probably a plateau. I would still have an awesome view but I don’t have to break my back every time I want to leave home (because I’m definitely picturing  the mountain as steepppppp!)

Prayer for Jay

Sigh. Yahweh, I pray for Nikki and Jay. I lift up Jay before you, heal him and restore him physically to you. He is undergoing chemo, strengthen his body. His mind. Be with his family and I pray that in this valley season that they would find strength in you. Keep them in your will. Remember (sigh, I know you don’t forget) Cap.  Strengthen him and help him to heal and recover. Thank you for your grace in their lives until you return. Thank you for who you are.