The game has changed dramatically since I was a kid. It used to be you’d gather with a bunch of friends, appoint one of them to be IT, then scatter and hole up while he/she counted to 100. IT then set out to uncover the rest of us. We hid in trees, behind garages, under piles of leaves. If your hiding spot was discovered you ran to the safety of home, striving to reach it before IT tagged you and knocked you out of the game.
Well, 21st century technology has overhauled the simplicity of Hide ‘n Seek. The object now is to locate hidden treasures rather than hidden friends. High-tech equipment—a hand-held GPS device—is required to find the treasures as opposed to trusting basic instinct and give-away giggles. Even the game’s name has changed. This updated version goes by the ostentatious title geocaching: geo from geography and caching for the act of hiding something in a secret spot.
The plus side of this modern version is that the treasures will likely be found. Latitude and longitude coordinates are provided and entered into the GPS unit before the hunt begins. The hunter (AKA IT) simply follows the device’s arrow till the hidden treasures are uncovered. Diligent searching leads to discovery.
The way to acquire treasures—whatever they might be—is to seek them. And whether through use of the most advanced satellite science or the ancient practice of prayer, those who search for treasures find them.
The exiled Israelites learned that despite their sufferings, God could be found in Babylon. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you…(Jeremiah 29:13 – 14). Hundreds of years later the people anxiously looked for God’s Servant, the Messiah, to release them from captivity of foreign rule and an oppressive religious system.
The day Jesus launched His traveling ministry He left the crowds and admirers behind. He rose before sunrise and hiked to an isolated spot. There He spent the pre-dawn hours in prayer. The disciples woke and found Jesus missing. They mounted a search and, like skilled hunters, tracked Him down. It probably was a frantic hunt. A crush of sick and invalid and demon-possessed awaited Jesus’ return. Everyone is looking for You (Mark 1:37), the disciples informed Him.
Everyone is looking for you. How profound. Without realizing it, the disciples stated the urgency of Jesus’ mission. Their intent was to return Jesus to the waiting crowds for another day of healing and miracles. But Jesus had been in prayer for His ministry. He and the twelve were about to hit the road to share the Gospel because everyone was looking for Him. It was time for Him to be found.
The urgency remains today. All around us, people seek God. They ask, How could a loving God allow… or Where was God when… or even Why is God punishing me? They want answers. And God promises that when they search with all their heart, they will find Him. He’s not hiding. Jesus goes to meet the seekers where they are—hospitals, prisons, soup kitchens and shelters.
How can you help seekers around you? Be a disciple. Jesus is found in His followers as they feed the hungry, visit the imprisoned, shelter the homeless, stand against injustice, stand for the rights of the persecuted and disadvantaged, when they care for the least of society. Jesus makes Himself known when His disciples promote the Kingdom of God with their words and actions.
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