The Fog Chapter 4 - “Hide and Seek?”
Illustration: Have you ever played Hide and Seek – I have with my grandkids – Deklan is the funniest because where he hides is usually in the same place and if you listen you can hear him singing – he loves to sing – at our summer blast I put him on the ponies, and he sang the whole time around on the pony every time. How many have heard of and played - from oral tradition - the game Hide and Seek?
Background on the game hide and seek:
Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chosen player (designated as being "it") counting to a predetermined number with eyes closed while the other players hide. After reaching this number, the player who is "it" calls "Ready or not, here I come!" or "Coming, ready or not!" and then attempts to locate all concealed players.
The game can end in one of several ways. The most common way of ending is the player chosen as "it" locates all players; the player found first is the loser and is chosen to be "it" in the next game. The player found last is the winner. Another common variation has the seeker counting at "home base"; the hiders can either remain hidden or they can come out of hiding to race to home base; once they touch it, they are "safe" and cannot be tagged.
One variant is called "Sardines", in which only one person hides and the others must find him or her, hiding with him / her when they do so. The hiding places becomes progressively more cramped, like sardines in a tin. The last person to find the hiding group is the loser, and becomes the hider for the next round. A. M. Burrage calls this version of the game "Smee" in his 1931 ghost story of the same name.
The original version of the game was called apodidraskinda. A second century Greek writer named Julius Pollux mentioned the game for the first time. Then as now it was played the same with one player closing their eyes and counting while the other players hide. This game was also found in an early painting discovered at Herculaneum, dating back to about the second century. The above information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hide-and-seek.
Story of Gary Ojala – Bear!
I have shared stories of my friend Bear and I got the bad news from his daughter Jen that he has passed away mid-July – it was actually the first day we moved into our beach house in Florida. Bear helped lead me to the Lord and was there in early years to help me grow spiritually. But Bear also taught me about playing the game Hide and seek with God!
Gary and I got saved together and we grew spiritually together – he taught me a lot about being in connection with Jesus and listening to His call – He moved to Alaska about my 4th year of salvation and he wanted me to go with him to work the oil fields around Prudhoe Bay Alaska. I also went with him. He felt called to go move back to Alaska – Why? – He especially wanted to witness to all the Vietnam Veterans living remotely in that region – he said they are all hiding out in the bush, and they are filled with guilt, shame, and rejection and remorse. He told me how they are wounded and hiding from God and others over Vietnam and war. I am going up there to show them that Jesus is seeking them out! He was passionate about this call! I did not feel called to go – AI wanted to go – But the Holy Spirit told me to stay at Outreach – I struggled with not going – I always wondered how different my life would have been if I went - But I knew I was called where I was, and Bear was called to follow his call to Alaska.
His Bio: Gary Ojala “Bear” entered the military in 1968, when he volunteered for Vietnam. During his time overseas, Gary received numerous awards, citations, and commendations including:
National Defense Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, 2 Vietnam Commendation Medals, Overseas Service Bars, 3 Purple Hearts, Army Commendation Medal, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation Commemorative Medal with Palms, 2 Good Conduct Medals, he was a Sharp Shooter (sniper) and Bronze Star Recipient for his valor. After his stint in Vietnam and Missouri, he ended his career in Alaska in 1977.
I met Gary on a construction site in MPLS - Mn in 1979 – we hit if off and became close hunting, fishing, and drinking buddies. Bear is in heaven now but he left a great impression on my life and heart.
Garu knew about the fog he had been in for a few term in Vietnam – he saw death face to face numerous times – he lived in the fog addicted to drugs and alcohol! He told me I was hiding from God but he came and sought me out! His daughter told me how her dad changed when he met Jesus! She said he was found by Jesus and set free.
Sermon: Hide and Seek
Thesis: The fog has rolled into western culture and choked out intimacy with God. The fog hinders and blocks us from being in an intimate relationship with God. The fog drives us to choose to hide from God rather than seek out His presence! But Jesus is seeking us out even in the fog!
Main Scripture text: I want to share a biblical story with you about others from the Bible who tried to play hide and seek with God.
Genesis 3:8-11: 8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Point of today’s message: Someone who is guilt-ridden, shamed, depressed, traumatized and conscience-stricken because of sin will hide from God and others, rather than seeking fellowship with God they hide. Yes, people will shy away from Him just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden. After their sin, they ran away from God, not to Him! Sin and the fog will drive you away from God not to Him—we all at times try to hide from God (Genesis 3:8-10). But God came and sought out Adam and Eve and He will do the same for you and others! That is what is so amazing about the Lord – He seeks us out even in our sin and being engulfed in the fog!
Introduction:
Sin will always cloud our view of God, and it will never bring the blessings of God! Instead, it actually drives us away from God. Adam and Eves sin drove them to hide from God! They discovered they were naked, and they felt ashamed! But God knew exactly where they were at and went looking for them- did you hear that – we somehow get deceived into thinking that we can slip away in the fog and God does not see where we are at and or what we are doing. But He does see, and He does know, and He does love us!
Illustration:
Have you ever had a bad dream where you dreamed you are naked in public, naked in front of a crowd – you realize in the dream that you forgot to put your clothes on? Well for Adam and Even sin opened their eyes to good and evil and they looked at themselves and were ashamed and exposed to God. But it was not a dream, it was real life! They realized they were naked before God and He could see everything! So, they tried to hide but God knew where they were and sought them out!
Scripture verses tell us we cannot hide from God:
Hebrews 4:13: Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Proverbs 15:3: The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Jeremiah 23:24: Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
Psalm 139:1-12: O Lord, you have searched me and known me! ... Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Truth is we cannot hide from God; He will always seek us out!
Have you ever chosen to play hide and seek with God?Think about that time with me for a moment?
God knows everything about us so trying to hide from Him is impossible because He knows! The Lord desires to have an intimate relationship with us and to be in connection with us – hiding from Him does not work so we should not be hiding from God but seeking out His face and presence!
T.S. - Let’s learn a few lessons about hiding from God and how God seeks us out from Scripture! We will look at another man from the Bible named Jonah!
I. The lesson from Jonah and trying to Hide from God! Jonah 1-4
a. The Big Question: Can a person survive being swallowed by a whale?
i. James Bartley survived in a sperm whale for 15 hours in 1890, he was saved when his crew mates in the whaling fleet caught and killed the whale, upon skinning the animal they noted Bartley banging on the walls of the stomach. When they got him out, he was almost completely blind and his skin was bleached by stomach acids. This story some say is doubtful, but it was told as news in 1891 in the New York Times and many other Newspapers for over 100 years.
1. National Geographic https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2017/03/did-a-19th-century-sailor-get-swallowed-by-a-sperm-whale-and-survive/
a. They wrote about this story which was passed along for 100 years. The author states: Bartley was the subject of a cetacean-sized early example of churnalism (the pinching and recycling of one journalist’s story). The Great Yarmouth Mercury in the UK started this scoop rolling on 22 August 1891 and the Morning Bulletin in Rockhampton, Queensland, snapped up the bait on 11 September. Dozens more papers ran the story virtually word for source less word over two years. It wasn’t until 11 May 1907 that Adelaide’s Evening Journal declared “Champion Fish Story, A Hoax Exposed”. But the tale refused to die and was rerun in many papers over the next two decades. It appeared again in various publications in 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1942 (when Melbourne’s The Age gave it a run), 1944, 1947, 1948 and 1953. The yarn continued to be published right up until 1985, when the Sunday Mail even reported how Bartley had settled down as a cobbler in Gloucester, England.
i. So is this story true -- some say “no” some say “Yes!” You decide!
1. By the way miracle stories always have the two sides – those who believe and those who do not believe!
ii. More modern day story - Lobster diver swallowed by humpback whale off Provincetown: At a little before 8 a.m. Friday, in June 2021 a veteran lobster diver Michael Packard entered the water for his second dive of the day. In something truly biblical, Packard was swallowed whole by a humpback whale. “All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” “I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth,” he said. Outfitted with scuba gear, he struggled, and the whale began shaking its head so that Packard could tell he didn’t like it. He estimated he was in the whale for 30 to 40 seconds before the whale finally surfaced. “I saw light, and he started throwing his head side to side, and the next thing I knew I was outside (in the water),” said Packard, who lives in Wellfleet. Packard – he retold his story Friday afternoon following his release from Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. Reported in the Cape Cod Times!
1. This story gets the same reaction – some say “no” some say “yes” but this clip gets more “yes” Why? Because it was a quick in and out!
2. Reference the video clip of California Kayakers swallowed by Humpback whale and spit out!
iii. But our story was referenced by Jesus who said the story of Jonah was true and he refers to it in his teaching:
1. Most importantly, the Lord Jesus Christ accepted the account as true. He said that the people of Nineveh repented of their sins as a consequence of his preaching (Matthew 12:41). He even said: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s (Great fish) belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the Earth.” —Matthew 12:40 - Thus Christ actually compared Jonah’s experience to His own coming death and resurrection, pointing out the miraculous nature of both. One cannot deny the factuality of Jonah’s experience, therefore, without charging the Lord Jesus Christ with either deception or ignorance, either of which is equivalent to denying His deity.
a. So, you have decide to believe the story as a miracle or not? It’s a;; about believing in the power of God to do a miracle!
b. Message and Outline from Logos: The book is mainly a narrative and is divided into four distinct chapters. Here is the summary:
i. Jonah 1—Call and his flight to Tarshish
1. Jonah is commanded by God to go to Nineveh and preach against it, but instead he runs away to Tarshish and boards a vessel. Yahweh goes after him by sending a violent storm, and the sailors eventually throw Jonah into the sea. By Jonah’s own words and encouragement! When the sea calms, the men fear Yahweh; they offer sacrifices and make vows to God. Jonah is then swallowed by a great fish where he remains for three days and three nights.
ii. Jonah 2—Jonah’s rejection of the call wains and he prays to God inside the fish:
1. Jonah prays, his eyes are open in the dark smelly belly of the great fish, acknowledging that Yahweh heard and rescued him when he turned to Him in his great need. (swallowed by a great fish) Jonah then promises to do what he had originally vowed to do. The fish, at Yahweh’s command, vomits Jonah onto dry land.
iii. Jonah 3—Nineveh’s Response to Jonah’s Message:
1. Jonah is called a second time to preach to Nineveh by the Lord. This time Jonah obeys, goes a day into the city of Nineveh and proclaims: “There are 40 more days” (3:4). In response to this, the Ninevites believe in God, proclaim a fast, and put on sackcloth. The king decrees sackcloth and fasting for all, including animals, with the hope that God would relent and have compassion. God spares the city: “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it” (Jonah 3:10).
iv. Jonah 4—Jonah’s anger and accusation toward God’s grace and Yahweh’s response:
1. Jonah becomes angry with Yahweh for His compassion and graciousness to Nineveh and asks to die. Yahweh questions Jonah’s right to be angry. Jonah makes himself a shelter outside the city and Yahweh provides him with a plant as shade. The next day, God sends a worm to kill the plant, and Jonah again asks to die. Yahweh again asks Jonah if he is rightly angry. Jonah responds affirmatively: he is angry enough to wish to die. God responds, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow … And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 people who do not tell their right hand from their left, and also many cattle?” (Jonah 4:10–11).
a. The above from Logos - Brenda Heyink, “Jonah, Book of,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
v. So, we have the summary of the story of the runaway prophet who tried to hide from God. But God went and sought out our runaway prophet!
c. It’s important to mention the following: God speaks to Jonah and Jonah receives a call a command to go preach salvation to His enemies – so Jonah makes the choice to run away from God - to hide from the call and God– He is doing the hide and seek game with God – But God seeks Him out in a storm - Jonah hates the Ninevites to me this is obvious – But God wants Him to preach repentance to this city of 120,000 people who were known as evil terrorists - God sees how clueless they are of truth and Him – God has compassion on this evil city - But, Jonah runs for the sea because he wants them destroyed not saved - but God seeks out Jonah and orchestrates supernatural events to get him to do what He called Him to do.
i. Remember Jonah does not like the mission from God, so he goes in the opposite direction to run away from God and hide from His sight – God seeks Him out with a storm – did you hear that? - God gets Jonah’s attention on the run by using a storm – the men on the ship throw Him overboard by Jonah’s own urging - Why? - to preserve their own lives – but a great fish swallows Jonah – he is in the belly of the great fish for 3 days and nights. Then the fish spits him out on land – Jonah goes to Nineveh preaches repentance and the city gets saved. Jonah becomes even more angry with God for His grace, mercy and compassion!
1. Logos notes: “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” This phrase is repeated several times throughout the Old Testament (Num 14:18; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Neh 9:17). The revelation of this scripture text reveals Jonah’s perception of God’s compassion as negative (not positive). Yet, even as much as God is gracious, He does also punish. The disaster promised to Nineveh ultimately comes true at a later time (Ben Zvi, “Jonah 4:11,” 12–13). In addition to Jonah’s personal aversion to the people of Nineveh, the reader is not given insight into the reason the city ought to be punished. The book of Nahum offers a more detailed description of how cruel and evil Nineveh was. Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kgs 14:25, while Jeroboam was king over Israel. The events of the book should have occurred sometime during the reign of Jeroboam (786–746 BC) and before the destruction of Nineveh around 612 BC. From Brenda Heyink, “Jonah, Book of,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
a. The Bible frames Nineveh as a thoroughly evil city and an enemy of Israel. The book of Jonah describes Nineveh, its inhabitants, and its king as so evil that Yahweh threatens to completely destroy them if they do not repent. The Israelite prophet, Jonah, despises Nineveh and is disappointed when the people repent and Yahweh spares them. The book of Nahum describes Nineveh’s destruction at the hands of the Babylonians in graphic detail. It also describes Nineveh as a city of bloodshed. The biblical authors of Jonah and Nahum believed that Nineveh was evil and deserved the punishment it finally received.
i. Logos - Factbook
ii. Question: How do you outrun or hide from the face of God, or from the presence of God?
1. Jonah as a prophet of God should know better! This runaway prophet is acting crazy! Do you agree with me?
2. It’s like a pastor refusing to preach repentance to lost and deceived people because he believes they are so evil they should die…But the truth is people do this every day in our world – Christians do this.
a. God seeks people out because of His grace! God still is seeking out people today who want to be used to do this but many hide from the call. But as a Christian we should know we need to see God’s face, experience His presence – why because it is our source of life. We all long for it, right – do you long for it?
b. But the truth is we also fear it because in God’s presence we are known – we are exposed – we all realize we are naked. Remember Adam and Eve?
c. We also see that the further we run, as far as our sin goes, God’s grace and His presence always find us. His grace always goes one step further than our sin. Is that not amazing? This is why Jesus’s teaching and life, and death are still changing the world.
3. In the storm, God spared no expense to show his mercy to Jonah. He didn’t leave Jonah or let Jonah go. He went after Jonah to show Him His grace.
a. Did you know God’s grace can be found in in the storms of life! God uses storms to get our attention!
4. Josh states this about hiding from God - We hide our sin, our desire, our pain, because we don't know if God will care. We despise what God tells us to do because we know better. We run from God because we don't want to go to Nineveh, what seems dull, boring or difficult in our life.
a. https://joshuareich.org/2022/03/22/when-we-run-hide-from-god/
5. But the truth is God will always seek you out! The question is will you come out of hiding?
T.S. – Jonah shows us what not to do with God and that is to play hide and seek with Him – because He will find us – He has all power to find us and to put things in motion to wake us up to follow His call. But I now want to look at Peter in the Gospel of John were he too ran away from God and went back to his old life of fishing – he decided with some of the other disciples to leave Jerusalem and hide from Jesus and the pain of the cross and his denials of Jesus.
II. The lesson from Peter - runaway disciple - John 21:1-25
a. Peter, James, and John had experienced amazing things as disciples of Jesus. They had walked beside the Lord witnessing His mighty acts of healing, listened to his teaching, and even participated in miracles. For 3 years! And yet, even they returned to their old ways – they ran from Jesus and their call – they failed – they denied Jesus and ran away from Jesus – they decided to hide from His commission — so they too fled to the water to go fishing for fish instead of for men as Jesus had called them to do (By the way their fishing did not go very well!).
i. In my two stories today – the runaway people of God ran to the water to get away from God!
1. How many people do you know runaway on the weekends from God to their lake homes?
ii. Jesus comes seeking out his hiding disciples on the lake: After the dramatic events of His death and resurrection, Jesus again appears where the men are fishing. He calls to them to cast their empty nets on the other side of the boat. De ja Vue for them! It’s another miraculous catch of fish. Immediately they recognize Jesus, John whispers to Peter, “It is the Lord!” And in true “Peter” fashion…When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish… Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” (John 21:7-12)
1. I love stories where Jesus seeks out those who are hiding from Him – and the best part is He makes them breakfast!
2. I can picture this whole scenario playing out in my mind!
b. The story asks another big question: “Why did Peter and the disciples go back to their regular jobs of fishing again? Jesus had called them too so much more?”
i. The reason is clear from an earlier account in John’s Gospel. Remember that before the crucifixion, Peter had denied Jesus three times. If that wasn’t bad enough, his denials were despite a personal vow that he would go to the death with Jesus: “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times” (John 13:37-38).
1. Charlies Holt makes this observation: After his denials, Peter was acutely aware of his own inadequacy, his own failings, his own weakness. Rather than stepping into the Resurrected Life and moving forward with Jesus’ call on his life to be an apostle, Peter had reverted back to being merely a fisherman. And evidently, he had brought the others with him. Like an athlete who lets down the team in the big moment, Peter had fumbled the ball after vowing to be a superstar! He was discouraged and disillusioned”
a. The above from https://revcharlieholt.com/new-life-fishing-again-returning-back-to-the-old/
b. Have you ever been there? I have been there!
2. Peter denied Christ watched him die on the cross and even witnessed His resurrection – But He decided I am going back to fishing – I failed – I cannot serve God as a failure – I am going to distance myself from the cross and Jesus. I failed Him. I am going to hide from my call and my Jesus mission – because I cannot do it!
3. Peter is another runaway story from God – he runs back to his old life – he runs and hides out of shame and guilt – but Jesus told him he would be a fisher of men not fish. But back at the runaway old job of fishing he and the others fish all night and get nothing – no success – failed again – I am sure they were thinking the mission failed and we have forgotten how to fish. We are doomed! But Jesus comes seeking the disciples and Peter to restore them -to forgive them and recommission them with the mission of changing the world!
T.S. – Peter is another example of a person who ran from God and played hide and seek with Him. But once again Jesus sought Peter and the other disciples out to show them mercy, grace and encouragement. Peter is restored and sent to fulfill his call to be a fisher of men!
III. Application: There are three ways we hide from the Lord that I can think of from our Bible stories.
a. We refuse to answer the Lord’s call or reject his call because we do not like it!
i. Like Jonah we just don’t like the call, so we hang up on God and runaway to the sea or water to hide.
ii. But God comes seeking us out - sometimes with a storm other times in person and does a miracle!
iii. Have you ever been there? You hide from God and His call and mission, but He sends a storm and fish to bring you back to Him.
1. What an amazing Savior!
2. My story on Sabbatical - Milacs Lake and catching all the walleye in record time and all being in the size to keep- the guide said to me, “This is really a miracle someone is blessing you!”
b. We stay away from anyplace or anything associated with the Lord after we fail in the mission.
i. Like Peter and the disciples, we leave Jerusalem to go back to our old life – could be fishing!
1. We ditch church and worship of God! To hide at cabins or sports or video games or porn or drugs or isolation?
ii. But Jesus comes seeking us out to forgive us and remind us of the mission!
1. Failure quote about John Maxwel’s book “Failing Forward” l:
a. “Are some people born to achieve anything they want while others struggle? What is the real reason for their success? John C. Maxwell has the answer: The difference between average people and achieving people is their perception of and response to failure. Most people are never prepared to deal with failure. Bestselling author John C. Maxwell says that if you are like him, you feared it, misunderstood it, and ran away from it. However, he has learned to make failure his friend, and he can teach you to do the same. Maxwell takes a closer look at failure and reveals that the secret of moving beyond failure is to use it as a lesson and a stepping-stone.”
i. From review on https://www.amazon.com/Failing-Forward-Turning-Mistakes-Stepping/dp/0785288570
b. Have you failed – hid from God – runaway from God? Jesus is seeking you out – He is knocking on the door of your heart - will you open it to Him?
c. We do the “razzle dazzle” especially if we see someone connected to God in public - we then go into hiding mode or stealth mode – have you done it in the store? You go down an aisle and see someone you want to avoid so you hide. Duck and cover is the name of the game here.
i. I think of Elijah running away hiding at the Brooke – But God seeks Him out! He distanced himself from others from the mission because of fear!
ii. I think of David hiding out after His sin with Bathsheba and covering it up but God seeks Him out and calls him out with the Prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel 12!
Conclusion:
Other Biblical examples of people who played Hide and Seek with God:
Gideon is another example of someone who tried to hide from God. Gideon was from the tribe of Manasseh, and he was hiding in a winepress when the angel of the LORD appeared to him (Judges 6:11). Gideon was trying to avoid being called by God because he was afraid. He didn’t think he was good enough or qualified to do what God asked him to do. Sound familiar? Where are you hiding?
At the lake? At the cabin? In the crowd?
Others I could name Abraham, Moses, David and many more!
What do we need to know from this message?
Answer: The fog has invaded our western society and it is clouding many people’s views of God. Some even think that as long as they are in the fog they can hide from the Lord and He will not see what they are doing. We run one way when He tells us to go another way, but He sees that and seeks us out. Many of us try to take God’s role on in our lives because we have a better strategy, a better plan that will make everything work. Some of us hide from God because we aren’t sure how to be known by HIM, how to be in a relationship with Him. We aren’t sure if God is safe because the family, we grew up in wasn’t safe, so we assume He is not safe.
Why do we need to know this truth “We cannot hide from God because He seeks us out!”?
Answer: We need to know we cannot go and hide from the Lord. He knows where we are, and He does seek us out! He does speak to us, but will we listen or run and hide? Is there something in your life right now that you know God has called you to, but you aren’t doing? Is there a relationship you know you should do something about, but you aren’t? Today is the day to do something about that.
What do they need to do from this message?
Answer: We need to come out of hiding and listen to God’s message and call and just do it – He will be with us and help us. He will forgive and restore us even if we fail. We just must do what He tells us to do!
Why do we need to do this?
Answer: Hiding from God is no way to live – besides He already knows everything – He will always come seeking us out to have that relationship with us – He does not want to leave us in our hiding place – being isolated and feeling afraid or shamed! God wants us to be free and empowered! God always has the answer and the love to pour on us if we want to come out of hiding! He knows you are in there – He is just waiting for you to come out!
