“Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.”
Jeremiah 23:24
Are we so bold as to claim there are hidden places unknown, unseen by the Lord God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth?
A while back I was watching a show and I had to laugh. The one kid says “God sees everything” and the other one says to him “Well, what about what you do in your van?” Getting a shocked look of bewilderment, the first one quickly replies “Oh He can’t see that, the walls are made of lead or something.”
It seems ridiculous, a bit in the realm of the theater of the absurd. It’s just silly enough to make you, at the very least, snicker because of the prospect that someone could be quite that blatantly dumb. You’re not surprised, but somehow you’re just not quite expecting it.
Yet, as silly as we may find that idea or that thought, it’s not a new or an unknown thought. There are many who believe that the things that they do, they can remain dark and hidden, far from sight, as if somehow they aren’t going to be seen or as if they are going to remain secret. They believe that somehow they can evade justice or that their own unrighteousness will just fly right under the radar, and they will be left to work their wicked ways, unobstructed in the evils and the transgressions that they commit.
I’m not talking about the silly, stupid kids stuff, like was expressed in that show, but rather the truly evil works, the truly wicked acts, the transgressions that rip away the innocence of humanity and shatter the way we see the world.
It’s not hard to know that it’s there amidst our world. With every report of a pirate that takes a ship and its crew captive, with every story of a terrorist group grabbing hostages and murdering them, with every account of a lost girl stolen from the streets or from their home by human traffickers trading in human flesh, we know that there are those out there who abide in darkness woven in the complacency of this world. We hear with every excuse that is made, every time we see someone talk about these pirates as misunderstood heroes, a volunteer coast guard, just protecting their shores, or these terrorists as freedom fighters just trying to guard their land and their families, every time a human trafficker explains that they are nothing more than a business man.
But even as they dwell amidst the darkness of this world, even as they hide in the secret places, they cannot hide from God, nor can they find themselves outside of the bounds of His justice. Though they may believe that He is not there or that He is far off from them, He remains the constant and vigilant protector of His children throughout this life. There is no dark place that any can hide in that will remove them from the sight of the Lord. The Creator of Heaven and Earth, He knows all, He sees all, even the veiled places in our hearts and the buried places deep within our souls. Though His ways may be mysterious to us there are no mysterious to Him.
Amidst this we know that there is a sacred trust, an abiding hope that shines forth in the blessed assurances of the Lord, for He does not abandon His children to those concealed places, and that subjugation and oppression at the hands of wicked men. He is there to guide them, to protect them, to cast His Holy Spirit upon them, and just as Christ ransomed captive Israel, He is there to lead His children from the hand of captivity to the blessed air of freedom.
Trust therefore not in the things of this word, nor believe there is any place where evil can abide that cannot be seen by the Lord God Almighty. Trust not in the things of this world, nor think that they can shield you from the justice of the Lord and the power of His Spirit when you work unrighteousness against your fellow man, seeking to assert yourself over them, for the Lord, in His judgment is capable of seeing even when it is believed that you are nowhere to be seen. Know that, even in the harshest days of trouble and sorrow, trial and challenge, agony and anguish, that the Lord is there, and He will bring peace even to the most wounded places in the soul, even if it does seem as if you are left to the mercy of evil and chaos in this world. The compassion and the mercy of the Lord transcends and is there with you always.
This is not just the Word of the Lord, it is the promise, the assurance of the Lord given unto all of His children, whom He loves so dearly. Even when captivity seems to dwell so heavy in the hearts of men He is there, in love, to shine His light like a beacon to illuminate even the darkest of places.
Above all trust that as the Prophet had, as the generations of Prophets and Disciples, Saints and Apostles had before you, knowing the hand of God is ever present in all things, through all things, given in love, compassion, mercy and kindness to His children, working His justice in all places, even the far distant shores where it seems as if we will be engulfed in the shattering waves that threaten to break us apart.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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