January 22 | Bible in a Year: Exodus 4–6; Matthew 14:22–36

Hiding from God

The Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Genesis 3:9

READ Genesis 3:1–10

I squeezed my eyes shut and started counting aloud. My fellow third-grade classmates tore out of the room to find a place to hide. After scouring every cabinet, trunk, and closet for what felt like hours, I still couldn’t find one of my friends. I felt ridiculous when she finally jumped out from behind a lacey, potted fern hanging from the ceiling. Only her head had been eclipsed by the plant—the rest of her body had been in plain sight the entire time!

Since God is all-knowing, when Adam and Eve “hid from [Him]” (Genesis 3:8) in the garden of Eden, they were always in “plain sight.” But they weren’t playing any childhood game; they were experiencing the sudden awareness—and shame—of their wrongdoing, having eaten from the tree God told them not to eat from.

Adam and Eve turned from God and His loving provision when they disobeyed His instructions. Instead of withdrawing from them in anger, however, He sought them out, asking, “Where are you?” (v. 9). It’s not that He didn’t know where they were, but He wanted them to know His compassionate concern for them.

I couldn’t see my friend hiding, but God always sees us and knows us—to Him we’re always in plain sight. Just as He pursued Adam and Eve, Jesus sought us out while we were “still sinners”—dying on the cross to demonstrate His love for us (Romans 5:8). We no longer need to hide.

By Kirsten Holmberg

When have you tried to “hide” from God? How has He sought you out?

Father God, thank You for demonstrating Your love and care for me despite the ways I wrong You.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Revelation 12:9 and 20:2 identify the serpent in Genesis 3 as “the devil” (false accuser) or “Satan” (adversary). Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Paul says that “Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Adam and Eve were prohibited from eating from only one specific tree—“the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16–17). But Satan twisted that prohibition to include “any tree in the garden” (3:1). “You will not certainly die” (v. 4) was Satan’s defiant challenge to God (2:17). Eve modified God’s clear instruction by adding “you must not touch it” (3:3).