Have you ever tried to hide from God?

“I noticed.”

Years ago, when I taught 7th grade English, I had a student who would get frustrated. In those moments, he’d chuck English textbooks at my head. Large, thick textbooks. I got tired of trying to hide from them.

Around that time, I spent nearly $200 to attend a behavior workshop. (That’s a small fortune for an Oklahoma teacher.) The speaker offered a money-back guarantee if his intervention failed. So I tried it.

Over the next 2 weeks, I “noticed” little things about this young man:

He always wore yellow.
He always walked down the hall with his buddy on his right side.
etc.

I told him these little things I noticed.

It worked! He became one of my favorite students. All because he felt seen. He felt valued as a person.

The Slave God Valued

Abram and Sarai were promised kids, but she wasn’t getting pregnant on her timetable. So she sent her maid Hagar in to be with her husband. When Hagar became pregnant, Sarai became so cruel to her that Hagar ran off.

The Angel of the LORD came to Hagar, called her by name, and promised that her son would multiply exceedingly in Gen. 16:13, “Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”

You can’t hide from The God Who Sees

The God Who Sees is El Roi [el ROW-ee]. El Roi validated Hagar’s feelings that day, and He still sees and hears us today.

You just can’t hide from God. David wrote in Ps 139:7, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” God’s view is inescapable. Hide and Seek just won’t work. We may try to hide from Him, but we will fail.
His sight is a sign of strength. No, there is nowhere on earth where we can hide from the God Who Sees. Second Chron 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and from throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” He is looking everywhere – looking and seeing everything on our behalf. “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watching on the evil and the good,” Prov. 15:3.
God won’t miss what you do for Him. Jesus Himself even tells us to do our Kingdom building work without an audience and not be concerned that Father God would miss it. (Matt. 6:3-4) “Be when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.” And, it’s important to note that just as there is a difference between hearing and actually listening, there is a difference between looking and seeing. God actually SEES you.

Honestly, we’d all be much better off if we’d come clean with God. Or, go one step beyond basic confession and ask Him to search our hearts for anything we’re trying to hide from ourselves – He sees that stuff, too.

Prayer – using 4 Aspects of Prayer

Adore – We praise You, El Roi, because You see us both at the moments of our greatest need and in those moments we do our very best for You. Nothing is hidden from You.

Admit – Forgive me, Father, when I try to conceal things from You. Or from myself. Things that hinder my work for You and Your Kingdom.

Ask – Lend us Your eyes, El Roi, that we may see the needs of others.

Acknowledge – Thank You, LORD, for seeing us as who we really are and for seeing our deepest needs.