Can You See Me Now?

“Can you see me now?” If you have children, this is a phrase you have probably heard many times in your home. What child doesn’t love to cover their eyes with their hands or an object and ask most sincerely, “Can you see me now?” Our 2 little ones still love to do this and they are convinced that just because they can’t see you, you must also be unable to see them!

How many times do we ask God from a most sincere heart, “Can You see me now?”

Maybe we are going through a storm and are calling out to Him rather frantically, wondering if He has closed His eyes to us and our difficulty. Surely if He could see us, He would have intervened by now and saved us from additional turmoil and heartache. Has your heart ever resonated with the question David asked of the Lord, “Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression?” (Psalm 44:24)

Maybe we are experiencing a season of rebellion before the Lord. We all, left to our own devices, tend to think we know better than God at times and we willfully choose to disobey what He lays out so clearly for us in His Word. During these seasons, our “Can you see me now?” question becomes one of hopeful anticipation that maybe we really have been able to move beneath His radar and elude a painful encounter with a loving, yet just God. “Can you see me now?”

The Lord shared with Jeremiah an observation that many of us would be wise to embrace. "Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?” declares the Lord.” Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24) Do we really think we will ever be successful at hiding the things we do or the thoughts we think from the Lord? Isaiah 29:15 says, “Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord, and whose deeds are done in a dark place, and they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?" Attempting to hide from the Lord is a scary place to be!

God, though, is not the only One we strive to hide from. We hide from each other all the time, unwilling to let anyone see who we really are or get close enough to glimpse our pain, our dreams and the unfulfilled longings of our heart! We create, brick-by-painful-brick, a wall behind which we seek refuge, while all the while really longing for another to take the time to know us!

We put on whatever face is expected from us at any given moment. It’s Tuesday night so it must be time to pull out the “Bible study” face. Sunday morning calls for the “happy little family” face. Unfortunately our families often get the “do what I say or else” face, while we reserve the “pretty” faces for those that would be turned off by the real us! Such pretending! Such deceit!

The Lord admonishes us to “encourage one another day after day, so that none of (us) will become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Hebrews 3:13) What a miserable, isolated existence we live when we try and avoid having others know where our heart truly is. “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices.” (Col. 3:9)

We all have struggles! We all have times when doing what is right before the Lord seems like an insurmountable feat that we feel very insufficient to attempt. None of us is exempt. None of us is without fault at all times! That is why the Lord tells us in James to “confess (our) sins to one another, and pray for one another so that (we) may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” (James 5:16)

It has been said that eyes that look are common, but eyes that see are rare! Oh, how I yearn to quit hiding from the Lord and desire to have the eyes of my heart open to what He longs to show me. “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my anxious thoughts!” (Psalm 139:23) Oh, how I desire to open myself up to really be seen and known by those around me.

Let us cease playing childish games! “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking, but in your thinking be mature.” (1 Cor. 14:20) No matter how many ways we try, no matter how we hold our hands, contort our body or pull the covers over our heads…we cannot hide from the One Who knows the number of hairs on our head. No matter which mask we pull out of the closet on any given day, we can’t keep others from eventually knowing what our true colors are!

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. (Eph. 1:18)