Games

There is nothing I like more than a game of peek-a-boo with a baby. What absolute joy to make a baby laugh! A baby’s laugh lets me know there is a God who created beauty! Cover your eyes with your hands, open them up and say boo! Sometimes, I think we play peek-a-boo with God too. We sometimes do not feel He is near us. But that is just not the case. He is always with us.  He is closer to us than our skin. “The LORD your God goes with you, he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut. 31:6 [NIV])

“The Lord is close to all who call on him, yes, to all who call on him in truth.”  (Ps. 145:18 [NLT])

He wants so very much to have a close, intimate relationship with us. We are the ones that let life get in the way of pursuing that constant communication. “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.” (Ps. 23:6 [MSG]) He is always chasing after us, we should do the same toward Him.

“…I will bring him near and he will come close to me…” (Jer. 30:21 [NIV])

“He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart…” (Isa. 40:11 [NIV])

Snuggled in next to Jesus, that’s what I want! Closeness of a friend, that’s what is required.

“… But there is a friend who sticks closer that a brother.” (Prov. 18:24 [NIV]) We all know who that Friend is, right?

“Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:13-15 [NIV])

As children get older, they go from playing peek-a-boo to playing hide and seek. I remember when our son was probably 3 years old, he was in plain sight in the living room, squatted down and closed his eyes. He then promptly declared, “You can’t see me!” Sometimes we do that with God too. It is so obvious from His perspective that He can clearly see us, but with our limited understanding, we forget that, and feel that He is distant. But those are just feelings, not fact. To counter that we need to be diligent in our seeking of Him.

Jesus seeks us. “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10 [NIV])

God seeks us. “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshiper will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23 [NIV])

We need to return the favor. “If you seek him, he will be found by you…” (1 Chron. 28:9 [NIV])

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matt. 7:7-8 [NIV]) Cool, God has an open door policy.

I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” (Ps. 16:2 [NIV])

Because we cannot hide from God. “Where can I flee from your Spirit? Where could I run from your presence?” (Ps. 139:7 [NIV]) (Actually Psalm 139:1-18 fits great here too, so read it when you have a moment.)

So we have the Trinity seeking us and desiring to be with us. But be careful. Because they are not the only ones seeking us. “For your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8 [ESV]) I prefer the Trinity seeking me, thank you very much.

“Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made know to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Ps. 16:9-11 [NIV])

So the next game we are going to play is Tag. Now that we know we are sought after and we want to seek after God, we also need to share that gift with others. So Jesus says, “tag, you’re it.” “Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20 [GNB])

Always, what a great word! So the only game we should be playing with God is tag, and laughing like a little baby while doing so!

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