Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie

Apple, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie

Playing The Game Of Hide And Go Seek

By Pastor Barry Kerner

 

When I was younger, I absolutely loved playing hide and go seek on summer nights! After dinner most of the kids in our neighborhood would be out playing in their front yards or catching ball in the street. As it began to get dark we would run around chasing the lightning bugs that had come out of the shadows. They were hard to see in the dark but their flash of light would soon give them away. With a swoop we would try to snatch them out of the air with our hands. Then we would slowly open our clutched fists to see if we had been quick enough. Invariably we would tire of this and someone would suggest we play hide and seek.

Simple rules would be laid out: No backyards, no hiding underneath cars, etc. There was a telephone pole at the end of our driveway which we always used for base. After choosing who would be “it” the rest of us would run off to hide as the seeker turned to face the telephone pole, closed their eyes, and began to count. Some of us knew where we would hide and quickly ran to where we hoped we would not be found. Others couldn’t make a quick decision and ran back and forth trying to decide where they would hide. After reaching the end of their count, the seeker would give those still deciding one last chance to find the perfect sport. They would call out, “Apple, peaches, pumpkin pie. Who’s not ready holler aye.” If a cry was heard, from someone still running about, the seekers would count again to ten. If no one responded, the seeker would yell, “Ready or not, here I come.” After searching and seeking there were times when some had hid themselves so well that they could not be found. To call them home the seeker would yell, “Olly, Olly, Oxen Free.” The remaining hiders would emerge from the shadows of their secret hiding places and make their way home.

According to the Encyclopedia of Play In Today’s Society, the game of hide and go seek can be traced back as far as 2nd Century BC Greece. Julius Pollux apparently described a game called Apodidraskinda, which involved choosing one player who would keep their eyes shut for a set time, and then try to find the other players. Although, if we incorporate biblical reference (Genesis 3:8) didn’t God “seek” Adam and Eve when they tried to “hide” from Him in the garden, after eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge? This would mean that the children’s game of hide-and-go-seek is as old as…sin?

Once in a while I’ll play a similar game with my children. They call it Man Hunt. The rules are reversed in that the larger group hunts (seeks) to find a single person or a very small group of hiders. In 1 Corinthians 13:11, Paul wrote, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” For most adults, the outdoor games are no longer played as they too have, put the ways of childhood behind them. Sadly though, many continue to “hide” in the shadows in other ways. Closeting their feelings and emotions they attempt to hide them from their family and friends. With a forced smile on their face and fake cheer in their voice, their half-hearted, “I’m fine” tries to hide what’s truly in their heart.

Have you ever felt that way? Like you couldn’t let anyone know how you really felt.

Maybe you’ve felt hurt, furious or as mad as can be, because of a circumstance or a person? But, when someone asked, “How are you?” you grinned and said “I’m fine.” Many Christians believe that being “Christ-like” means suppressing our emotions. We think “As long as I don’t let my feelings show, I’m being a good Christian.” Unfortunately, holding it in isn’t handling it. The Christian life isn’t a matter of improving your acting ability. It’s a matter of yielding yourself to God’s Spirit, in whatever circumstances you might find yourself.

The key is, as Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us, to“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Often though, instead of us yielding to the Holy Spirit, we pray for our circumstances or the other person to change. We struggle then because knowing that God is sovereign, and can arrange or rearrange what He chooses, we we ask the question, “God, why don’t you stop it?” “Why don’t you change their heart?”

God has never given us an easy answer as to why He permits us to struggle or to suffer as we do. But what we do know about God, not just from the Bible but from our relationship with Him, is that He always has our ultimate best in mind.

From others who have gone through deep suffering and pain, we hear He permits these things in our life, for our good. In Philippians, the Apostle Paul states, “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him.”

That’s a hard pill to swallow. It’s difficult to consider suffering, a gift? Especially when you’ve been praying for the life of a loved one or to be delivered from a disastrous situation. But the Bible assures us that God uses all human evil and calamity for His own eternal purposes. He restrains them to keep the world from becoming as bad as it could be and He can restore to His people what they’ve lost because of them.

Instead of yielding to the Spirit we often try to hide our emotions as Adam and Eve tried to hide their shame in the Garden. Like them, when we try to hide our burdens from others we also try to hide them from God. We hide them in the attic or basement of our conscious. An out of sight out of mind mentality helps us to grin and bear it. The world has clouded our minds and we so often forget that we serve a loving and caring God. A God who shares in our suffering as we share in the suffering of His Son.
God hears the one who calls and will respond. God assures the one who is heavy burdened and cries out from their despair that, “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.” Psalm 91:15

God’s word tells us to, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22

That, “The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.” Psalm 34:17

And to, “Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

God doesn’t tell us to take our feelings and run far away, He tells us to take our feelings and to cast them upon Him. God lovingly tells those who seek respite, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

When playing hide and go seek in the dark, there were times that what we thought was a great hiding place was far from that. Such as the bushes we ran to hide behind but where we soon smelled the fresh manure that had been applied that afternoon and in which we were now standing. Or, under the neighbor’s side porch where the local skunk or raccoon was also now hiding. The world also has many attractive hiding places (money, drugs, relationships, pornography, bitterness, etc.). But we need to be thinking long and hard about the consequences of our hiding place before we leap into the sin that those places grow out of. There are always consequences.

No matter how smart or clever that I think I am, the only safe place to hide is within the arms of God. “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.” Psalms 32:7

We need to not hide in the shadows of the world but believe that, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18 That, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm18:2 And declare that, “You are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.” Psalm 3:3

Olly, olly, oxen free, the hide and go seek phrase that called in those who had hidden themselves in the shadows, is said to come from the German phrase, “alle alle auch sind frei,” which loosely translates to “everyone, everyone is free.” Another side says it was “all ye all ye outs in free,” essentially saying, “it’s safe to come in.” If you’ve been hiding in one of the world’s destructive hiding places now is the time, like the prodigal son to come to your senses, to repent and to return to God. Don’t try to justify where you are or hang onto it by pretending it is a good hiding place. Come out of it and face the reality of it. And, contrary to what Satan might be telling you, God is calling out, “Olly, olly, oxen free.” It’s safe to come home. God is not waiting to condemn you. Instead, like the father of the Prodigal son in Luke 15:20-24, He is looking to forgive and embrace you.

 

David had cried out to God and God had answered his prayer. Therefore he was able to declare, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” Psalm 40:2 No matter what your situation, no matter what your circumstance the Holy Spirit tells us that, “after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” 1 Peter 5:10

Today, if you find yourself struggling or suffering call out to God. If you’ve been hiding in the shadows of the world cry out and the Spirit will respond, “Olly, olly, oxen free – It’s safe to come home.”