Hide and Seek – June 10, 2024

Read: Genesis 3:8-15

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
Genesis 3:8,9

Hide and Seek

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Emma did not finish her assignment on time. She saw a finished paper from a classmate sitting on the edge of the teacher’s desk. She quickly erased her classmate’s name and wrote her own on the paper. That afternoon, as the teacher corrected the papers, she knew. The handwriting and schoolwork did not match the name on the top. The teacher came to the young, guilty student, knelt by her side with the stolen paper, and gently asked, “Is this yours?”

Emma felt her heart beating like a drum. She did not want her teacher to know what she had done. She did not want her classmate to know she had stolen her work. All she wanted to do was run. Where could she hide?

A long time ago, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve struggled with this same question. They had broken God’s commandment. They felt shame over their sin. Then they heard their loving, heavenly Father calling out to them in the garden. Where could they hide?

You and I have also struggled. We have sinned. What do we do? Should we run and hide in the dark? Or do we step out into the light and face the truth? In his Word, the Bible, God calls us out of the darkness of our sin and reminds us that there is nowhere we can go where he will not find us. (Psalm 139) And yet, we often struggle to bring our sin to the light, to confess what we have done.

The devil loves the dark. He loves it when we try to hide our sins from ourselves, each other, and God. Lie, hide, live in fear of being found out…the devil loves this plan.

But our Jesus loves the light. He fought the battle over darkness for Adam and Eve, for Emma, and for you. And with his light, love, and life, he calls us to stop hiding and tell the truth. And for all the times we do, he points to his cross where he crushed the devil and his darkness once and for all.

No more hide and seek! Because of Jesus, we can bring our sin to God and stand in the light as his forgiven child.

Closing Prayer:

Dear heavenly Father, thank you for your loving plan to save us from our sins. Help us remember we never need to hide our sins from you. We are forgiven because of Jesus. Help us to walk in the light of that forgiveness. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Have you ever been scared to tell the truth? Why is it so scary?
• Let’s practice telling the truth: Take this time to tell Jesus something that you’ve been hiding. Afterwards, listen to these words: “You are forgiven.”

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• What would you tell a friend who is afraid to tell the truth?
• Even though it can be scary to confess our sin, why does it feel so much better after we tell the truth?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• King David tried to hide his sin, and wrote how it made him feel, “When I kept silent my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psalm 32). What do you think he meant by ‘my bones wasted away’?
• Psalm 139:8 tells us we cannot hide from God. “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” How can knowing we cannot hide from God be scary and comforting at the same time?