“…You are a God who sees me.”

– Genesis 16:13 (ESV)

 

Have you ever tried to make yourself invisible? It sounds crazy I know. But the reality is I’m surrounded by little men who believe at one level or another that it’s possible. Just the other day I came home to “find” the three youngest playing hide and go seek. One was counting, and the other two were working hard to become unseen. Given their difference in age, each of them possess a different level of disappearing prowess. For my littlest guy, he simply closes His eyes and “poof” he’s gone. While my older boys know it doesn’t work like that, one of them does still seems to think that their blanket has the power to make them undetectable so long as they lay perfectly still. The third, our true Houdini, believes a true disappearing act that wins every time requires the willingness to hide in a dark closet for as long as it takes to win.

Honestly, it’s pretty entertaining to watch. The other day, as I saw a blanket rustle and a foot sticking out from behind the couch, I thought to myself, “they honestly think they can’t be seen.” And as I laughed, I thought to myself, “what does God think of us when we try to hide from Him?”  We may not try to hide in the way that my boys do. In all reality, they are much better hiders than we are. I mean stop and think about it. In a true pragmatic sense, they have a much better chance of hiding from one another than we do of hiding from God. Nevertheless, we still hide. We still run. We still try to live our lives outside of God’s line of sight. We might not believe it’s literally possible, but many times we act as though our lives are hidden from God.

This week, we will see that our God sees us. Not only does He see us but also He comes to us. And when He arrives, He does so with great punctuality. Our message title this week is Echoes of Punctuality from Genesis 16. Take some time to read the passage and notice how the God who sees is punctual with His providential plan. And notice the trouble we cause when we act as though He’s not looking and we try to take matters into our own hands.

Take some time to listen to the worship set to prepare your heart.

 

Love you Church,

Jerry Lingenfelter
Senior Pastor