As a child, I loved to play hide-and-seek. My favorite place to play was on the street I grew up on in Flagstaff, AZ. There were so many good places to hide, especially at night. The streetlight would cast such incredibly dark shadows. It didn’t matter who came looking, I could hide in those shadows for hours and no one would find me.
As adults we still play hide-and-seek. Only we don’t hide from our friends, we hide from things like guilt, pain, anxiety, and disappointment. What are you hiding from right now? Has a sinful choice left you haunted by guilt? Did someone’s hurtful words leave you surrounded by pain. Sometimes circumstances can make us feel hunted by anxiety and disappointment.
The world, like the street I grew up on, offers plenty of places to hide. Like children scattering on the street, some race to drugs and alcohol, others hide in their career or possessions. Denial attracts some, while others hide behind a fake smile. Where are you hiding?
Shortly before Moses died, he wrote a song about the Lord’s care for his people. In that song he says God guarded his people as the “apple of his eye” (Deut 32:10). It’s a phrase that refers to the pupil of someone’s eye, a delicate part of the eye that is so important it’s worth protecting at all costs.
The Lord knows how delicate you are and he wants you to know how important you are to him. He showed you as much when he went to the cross for you. There he took on your pain and anxiety, your disappointment, and most importantly your guilt. At the cost of his life he protected you from all that haunts you and gave you a place to hide. As he spread his arms on that cross to die as your substitute, he cast a shadow where you can hide for all eternity. In the shade of his love, anxiety is disarmed and disappointment is put into perspective. In the shadow of his forgiveness, pain loses its sting and guilt can’t find you.
You will always be the apple of his eye which means you always have a safe place to hide.
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings – Psalm 17:8
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