Don’t you just hate playing hide and seek with that one kid; you know, the one kid who ruins the game for everyone else because he can hide so well it takes forever, and everyone else’s help, to find him? That’s when the game becomes boring and most kids go on to play something else. But when mom, dad, grandma, or grandpa play it’s still fun because they hide in plain sight. They know it’s about having fun with the kids instead of proving their skill at hiding.

Since grown-ups know hide and seek is a child’s game why do so many think they can play it with God? Not that we should be surprised by our ability to fool ourselves into thinking we can hide from Him. After all, the Bible records one man’s efforts to hide from God in the book of Jonah. He was a prophet of God (2 Kings 14:25-27). That meant he was a man who received a measure of the Holy Spirit to speak God’s message, but then tried to play hide and seek with God because he did not like the message God gave him.

Our previous Morning Minutes in the Bible on An American Missionary left Jonah hiding from “the presence of God” in the hold of a ship headed west to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). We’re not told that he thought God was limited to one place like the pagans of his day, but, even if he did, he should have known better. He clearly understood the power and reach of God’s compassion, and by extension His wrath (Jonah 4:2). Regardless of his intent there was no hiding from “the presence of God” because He “found” Jonah out on the Mediterranean Sea.

“The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.” Jonah 4:4

Don’t you just love that word “hurled”? While some versions say sent, hurled is a much better translation because it carries the intent of the sentence. God threw this wind at the sea with great force to show Jonah just who was looking for him. It was going to take a serious demonstration of God’s power to get Jonah’s attention. But we’ll save that for later.

Right now let’s think about what God has done to try to get our attention. Forget about the trials and tribulations in life that shake us up. They have their value as a reminder that we live on a cursed earth, but let’s focus on the cross of Christ and the gift of God’s Son instead. These daily videos and other efforts to proclaim the message of God are a minor attempt to get us to quit playing hide and seek with God. He knows where you are. So, to paraphrase the game’s call, “Come out, come out, wherever you are. God sees you there!”