Quick! Hide!
Adam and Eve try to hide from the sight of God. Artist: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld. Source: Die Bibel in Bildern, Plate 9. Color added by PlaygroundAI
Have you ever played hide-and-seek? The object of the game is to intentionally hide oneself, to be found by the appointed seeker. I always enjoyed playing this game with a family friend, he couldn't hide anywhere but behind the bookcase, and usually his belly stuck out a little, so it helped me feel like I was winning. I also admired that someone much older than me loved me, a very small person, and at the same time his being overweight was something I loved about him. After all, I do not love him as I would prefer him but ought to and aspire to love him as he is. In all of our lives, we experience the effects of sin, our own and those of others, i.e. suffering evil. We can see from the very first sin how we tend to react. Our first move is typically to hide and figured it out later, this can be understood from psychological and theological perspectives.First, on the theological/philosophical level, the misconception they believed persisted. They knew God had power over them insofar as he created them. They believed that God’s good and their good were opposed. Which of course is a misunderstanding of the concept of God. Not only did they misunderstand what God is, but they misunderstood Who God is (which though May be somewhat distinct in creatures is not so much in God in His simplicity when His attributes are unchanging in His nature, and they are also infinitely what He is e.g. love). Moreover, on this account they lost sight of themselves, what was once true of themselves they felt might no longer be true, this interplays with psychology and the understanding of what is to us i.e. his relational role. As simple as this is to think about, its effects can only be understood as the large variety and magnitude of all historical man's sins and interpersonal conflicts. This misunderstanding of theology and anthropology undermines man's ability to think clearly about the ultimate narrative of reality, one's own nature, and that of others. It has made philosophically considering these things dangerous. If there were any exceptions whence individuals understand again with perfection theology, human anthropology, and thus living morally, it would have to have been an act of God (which can happen). We will look further into the psychological aspect.
Secondly, psychologically, we hide from both what actually is hurting us and what potentially is hurting us. Of course, this is only so possible whence error in reasoning is concerned, and it can often be either too painful to acknowledge how we are wrong or near impossible to see it. When it comes to interior hurts, those places that we both cannot seem to love and in fact expect that no one else can love either, become a sacred space where only few may enter at a certain time as the Holy of Hollies and we proper disposition as Moses with burning bush and the Holy of Hollies as well (Exodus 26:33; Exodus 3:1-15). Another great image from Scripture is the splitter in the eye, whence one does not trust oneself and scarcely others to remove the splinter, and what the splinter symbolizes is also important (Matthew 7:5). When Jesus uses this analogy, the splinter is meant to represent sin which in this analogy inflicts damage and obstructs our perspective. We make our own fig leaves for these places that we would seem to be ok and we deny that sin has any effect on us. It is important, however, that we restore the truth in our beliefs and arguably this is what the Church’s tradition and magisterium are for. The space we have made sacred has been offered a redeemer already so let him enter. God loves us in everything, and we cannot afford to believe the lie He might not be able to forgive us and love us when we struggle to do so ourselves and even others as well. Adam and Eve hide from God scared of what He will do to them both from their concept of God and their knowledge of what they have done. Poetically, this knowledge came from eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, whether we think so or not everything we suffer comes from sin as smoke from fire. It may be someone else’s or our own. Vulnerability with and trust in God and highly trusted persons undo this tendency, but this subject deserves its own post.
In conclusion, we ought to pray and think about where we are hiding and from what? We must invite God into where we are hiding. As fun as hide-and-seek can be, the game of life is love, not hide-and-seek. This is not a problem that can be solved without a complete restoration of every that first sin cost us and that is not going to happen in this life. But it is critically paramount to note that poor reasoning, wounds, habits, and a faulty understanding of anthropology are what lead us to sin, it is the splinter or beam in our eyes, and since sin and unreceptivity are what keep us from God, this defect may prevent us from loving God and/or others. Losing us the game, we were made to play. Paradoxically, Christ, who took on all our dysfunction and received with perfect and infinite love all its effects in His passion, is capable not only to work with our nature, He has control of the game. After all, in outright killing God, He returned and said, "Peace be with You" (John 20:19). God is not afraid nor deterred by our dysfunction. Perhaps, He loves infinitely what I loved of my family friend, his flaws as well as his health. Stop hiding and run to His loving arms and let Him hold you in the sacred places as well as the healthy places He alone is worthy to read us as a book and love us completely (image from Revelation 5).
Written by Carter Carruthers & also available soon at Missio Dei
In the valley, I can hear Your heart
Reaching for me now
And I wait flooded with the strength of Your peace
You're my defender, the shield of my heart
You are my hiding place
When terror surrounds me You keep me from harm
You are my hiding place
In the darkness, I can feel Your light, wrap around me
In my suffering, I can feel Your joy
Rising in me now
And I wait flooded with the strength of Your peace
