Hide and Seek
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
1 Kings 19:13 NIV
I'm assuming, at some point in your life, you've played hide and seek? Hide and seek has been all the rage with our girls lately. They play at home, at mamaw and bapaw’s house, at friends’ houses. Usually I’m asked to play, and I really don’t see any reason to turn them down.
The girls are really creative! I already knew that, based on the never ending projects, stories and singing around here. But seeing some of these hiding spots they've come up with still surprises me. They really love when they can't be found, and the seeker has to call "game over, come on out."
But my very favorite games of hide and seek were when they were little.
Can you see Sylvia sitting in her box there? She couldn’t see me so she was certain I couldn’t see her either. I imagine I walked around for a few minutes, calling out her name and looking in all the ridiculous places I knew she was not:
"Sylvia, are you in the fridge?" Open the door and no Sylvia there. "She must be under the Christmas tree." Drop down on the floor with a thud, only to find she isn't there. Pace a few times right in front of the box. "Sylvia. Where are you? The toilet... she must be hiding in the toilet! No... no Sylvia there." Stand with my hands on the top of the box, tapping my fingers while I think aloud....
I really love the story of Elijah hiding in a cave in the mountains in 1 Kings. It’s one I return to again and again. Elijah had just finished proving God’s power when he ran to hide.
I see this story a little differently after being a parent and playing hide and seek with my toddlers: God paces back and forth in front of the cave, waiting for Elijah to pop out and say “I’m here.” First Elijah waits through the wind, then an earthquake, then a fire, and finally that whisper. I imagine such a gentle voice meeting him there to ask “What are you doing here?”
Hiding in hide and seek is fun and silly. Hiding from God really isn’t possible. We might just be sitting quietly in our cardboard boxes while He looks at our toes peeking out. Maybe this eek is when we peer out from under the flap with a “here I am.”
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