“Is that your dad’s car, Valda?”
My head swivelled toward the road behind us so quickly that I almost hurt my neck. I saw the two beams of the headlights and the familiar vertical lights on the sides of the car dividing the two car doors. There was a fifty percent chance that this was my father’s vehicle, so I reacted the same way I would if I were adamantly certain—I ran for the embankment on the side of the road and ducked down.
Only after my dad (or the other man who owned a similar car with sidelights) had disappeared down the road, did I venture to pop up and join my friends. You might wonder what naughtiness I was getting into that warranted such a response to a possible sighting of my father. I had not been drinking or smoking, although some of my friends sometimes did. My only crime was that I was in the company of a young man whom my parents disapproved of. In fact, they didn’t approve of me dating at all, since I hadn’t hit my sixteenth birthday yet.
It’s not that I was off on a date alone with the guy. We were in a group. However, with my dad being the pastor of a small town of 184 people, I was expected to represent him, the church, and God. I could represent all of those just fine while holding a boy’s hand. No?
So, I hid. Whenever there was a risk of being caught, I darted away, even if it meant flattening myself on the damp grass.
I’m going to blame this natural tendency to hide when we disobey on the father of fathers, Adam. After tasting the fruit that God had forbidden him to eat, Adam tried to hide from God. In that moment of guilt, he panicked and forgot there was no way to win a game of Hide and Seek with the all-knowing God.
King David did the same. “Oops, I accidentally saw this beautiful woman bathing, and then, oops, I got my men to bring her to me, and oops, I accidentally gave in to my lust even after finding out she was married.” He might have gotten away with all this had she not conceived a child through all of those oopsies. But that didn’t stop him from trying to hide his sin. He brought the husband back from the battle so he would sleep with his wife, and no one would connect the dots back to the king. But hubby was an honourable man who could not be at home enjoying his wife while his comrades were fighting for their lives. So, that plot failed. On to Plan B: put hubby in the most dangerous part of the battle so he would die. That was David’s biggest oops so far. Like Adam, though, David seemed to have forgotten that all-seeing, all-knowing part of God’s character. He could hide his sin from people around him, but not from God.
My mom used to roughly quote Numbers 32:23: “Be sure your sins will find you out!” as a biblical warning to stop me from sinning altogether. Oh, Mom! I chose to go ditch-diving instead. Like Adam and King David, however, I also seemed to forget that it wasn’t just my parents that I was hiding from. I was also trying to evade God’s knowledge of my disobedience.
The problem with the three of us hiders was a lack of fear of the LORD. The Bible mentions the fear of the LORD in some way over 100 times, suggesting that this is important to God. Psalm 115:13 says, “He will bless those who fear the LORD, both great and lowly” (NLT). Receiving His blessing sounds far better than trying to hide my guilt and shame.
Proverbs 9:10 says:
Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
The words “wisdom” and “good judgment” don’t often get used to describe teenagers, but I might have grown those character traits sooner if I had a healthier fear of God.
The fear that we experience is different AFTER we have sinned. We fear being caught and punished. This is not the fear that the Bible is referring to here. If we fear God in a way that is a respectful awe of His greatness and goodness, this type of fear will often prevent us from sinning. We will want to represent Him as His children, and our desire will increasingly be to glorify Him with our lives.
I no longer hide my sin from God by hitting the dirt. I know that part of his character is steadfast love and forgiveness when I go to Him to repent. I declare with the psalmist:
I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. (Psalm 116:1)
Thank You, Father, for loving me so much. I pray that I will grow in my fear of You so that I make choices that glorify Your name. Amen.
What about you? Do you have a hiding story? Will you pray the words above?
Valda Goudie is a teacher and author of the Tickle Me with a Crowbar! Series. If you enjoy jokes and riddles, follow her on Instagram @valdagoudie to enjoy her TUESDAY TICKLE and FRIDAY FUNNY posts.
