Hide and Seek

29 Jan 1976

it’s so easy to hide the ugliness inside
beneath the clothes we wear, beneath the things we do
I was always afraid I wouldn’t make the grade
so I learned to do the things I was expected to
I never knew

when I was young I used to play hide and seek
and I grew up hiding from everyone I’d meet
like a child, I long for someone to find me
searching in the streets
then Jesus came and found me
He threw His arms around me
now I don’t have to hide anymore

it’s so easy to make the commonplace mistake
of seeing who we are as who we’d like to be
Jesus opened my eyes to see my own disguise
and He freed me to become what I was meant to be
and now I see

(repeat chorus)

you’re seeing who you are as who you’d like to be
Jesus can free you to become what you were meant to be
oh, can’t you see?

when you were young you used to play hide and seek
and you grew up hiding from everyone you’d meet
like a child, you long for someone to find you
searching in the streets
let Jesus come and find you
He’ll throw His arms around you
then you won’t have to hide anymore
you don’t have to hide anymore

1977 Notes

My niece, Jamie, has a very interesting version of Hide and Seek. As soon as I close my eyes and start counting, she’ll run for the dining room and stick her head into the little space between the buffet and the adjacent wall. I guess she thinks that as long as she can’t see me, I can’t see her, either. So I pretend to search the whole house, and finally, when enough time has elapsed (or when I get tired enough), I “find” her. Hide and Seek is one game we all know how to play. It started way back in the Garden (Genesis 3:8) and we’ve had plenty of practice since then. We hide from God. We hide from each other. We even hide from ourselves. and though we may be amused at Jamie’s version of the game, we hide our faces from God and think He can’t see us.

When will we learn that there’s no sense in hiding?
When will we learn that there’s no reason to be afraid?
When will you let Him find you?

Hebrews 4:13, Matthew 10:26

2006 Notes

Hebrews 4:12 is quite a powerful lead-in to verse 13. It’s about the double-edged sword that “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” That’s where the hiding usually starts, anyway, in the heart. Luckily, that’s also where he seeks us. (More on that a little later.)