Thursday 20 August 2015

Where's Waldo?



Scripture:

Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. Isaiah 45:15.

Observation:

How can a god that loves to play hide and seek be our Savior?

When I send my kids to the swimming pool, I don't want to have to wonder about if there is a life guard on duty or where the heck said guard is. Shouldn't an existential saviour be at least as obvious and just as readily accessible?

Perhaps the important part of Isaiah's assertion is that God is not absent but hidden. Maybe God's game is more "where's Waldo" than "hide and seek" (although, God loves us to seek!). 

If you recall the Waldo books they are filled with interesting and intricate pictures. The game is to endeavour to find Waldo (always wearing the same tell-tale outfit) amidst the chaos and bustle. Perhaps God isn't so much actively hiding as we are missing God for two basic reasons:
1) we get distracted by all the other activity in our lives; and, 
2) we get caught looking for God on an ivory throne with a bejewelled crown of gold, when the chosen divine accoutrement is actually a cross and crown of thorns. 

In the first case God is hidden by our lack of focus upon the central things, in the second God is hidden by our inadequate visions of how kings ought dress and act. 

Application:

God is often hidden, but God is always present.  


To our horror and great relief, 

God is here, God is with, God is near, God is now. 

Prayer:

Playful God, thank you for so delighting in your creatures as to move always alongside us. Grant me grace today to glimpse (and glimpsing see, and seeing imitate) your humble glory amidst crying babies, quarrelsome kids, and goons that drive to fast upon the highways. Amen.

2 comments:

  1. Often hidden but always present - thank you, Father. Give us eyes to see you, and a heart that continually looks for you in the midst of our chaos.

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