God often seems to play hide-and-seek

Although, as a Christian my beliefs and experiences repeatedly testify to God’s presence in my life, he also seems to me very hidden. Some of this hiddeness is because of me –I am often too wrapped-up in myself to see outside of me toward his many manifestations of love, joy, beauty, and creation (and see Genesis 15:5; John 12:24-25). But some of this hiddeness is because of God and the creation – that God is deliberately disguised making it peculiarly hard to see him (1 Timothy 6:15-16). So, whether it is through the administration and prevalence of chance which has no will or volition (for example, see Joshua 14:2); or through physical death and decay which has no apparent meaning or purpose (for example, see Ecclesiastes 9; 2 Corinthians 5); or through the unfathomable character of God’s plans which means he is often secretive (for example, see Romans 11:33) – God often seems to be playing a very strange game of hide-and-seek! Like a father hiding from his child - he wants to be found but he also makes an effort to be properly hidden. This game can be experienced by the child as fun and exciting, or as bewildering and frustrating – for my part, I am still learning how to play with the former spirit, but have often had the taste of the latter in my soul. 

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