Imagine a baby who had a close relationship with her parents
and whose parents went on a date. What might the reactions of the baby possibly
be when the baby can’t see her parents and feels alone? The baby might be sad,
scared or even mad. The baby probably isn’t really mad at her parents; the baby
just misses them. And just because the parents are out of the picture for an
evening doesn’t mean the parents have forgotten the baby or love her less.
What if we apply this to adults and their relationship to
their heavenly parent, God? Everybody wants to be close to God. When God is
perceived as being distant from us, we might be sad, scared or even mad. Are we
really mad at God? Well, sometimes. But more than anything, we miss the closeness to
God. Does God love us less even though we can’t feel Him near? Definitely not.
Back to babies. When parents play peekaboo with their babies and put their hands over their face, the babies are disoriented when they can’t see their parents and may get upset. Do you know any adults who seem disoriented in this life? The babies become so distressed when they can’t even see their parents for a moment, just imagine the distress in our lives when we think we can’t see God for a moment! But God is always waiting behind the hands. But I believe it isn’t God’s hands as the barrier. I believe it’s our hands that separate us from God.
“Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword?...
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God…” (Romans 8: 35, 38-39)
We have the power to pull down our hands down at any time
and see God’s smiling face and feel the closeness again. When we see God at last, we might even laugh
and clap our hands with joy like a little baby playing her favorite game...Peekaboo!
