Hide and Seek with Hiccups

One snowy cold winter day, my granddaughter Gin and I were hanging out for the morning in my son’s brick row house in Washington DC. Gin is about two and a half. “Let’s play hide and seek!” she said, “I count.”

I ran off down the hall with a backward glance. Her hands were sorta touching her forehead, as though shielding her half-closed squinty eyes from the sun. She counted out loud, “One, two, three, four, seven, ten, six . .” I hid on the couch in the TV nook with the couch pillows on top of me and blanket over all, wondering if my feet were sticking out. Soft footsteps were heard coming down the hall; the pantry door opened and closed. Feet tiptoed around the kitchen counter and entered the TV nook. All was still. Then, almost in my ear, “Hiccup!” I swallowed my laughter as best I could. Finally, I felt tiny fingers ever so gently touch my hair.

“You found me!” I said and pulled back the blanket a little so I could see her face. We smiled at each other for a second and then she burrowed under the blankets next to me and said, “You count.”

I moved into the living room and counted, “One, two, three, etc” up to twenty. Every few seconds, I heard a loud “Hiccup!” I moved through the house, opening doors and making noises like, “Hmmm. Where can she be?”

At last I stood right next to the piled blankets on the couch. After one more giant “HICCUP!” I whispered, “there you are.” She pushed back the blanket and immediately said, “I count,” and we started over.

Later I thought about those hiccups. What a give-away! Hide and Seek is about quiet invisibility. Hiccups really change the game.

Then, I thought, what about Hide and Seek with God? We believe that this is an essential Christian task. David urged it on his son Solomon (1 Chronicles 28:9) and Jesus urged it on his followers in this way:

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Is God findable? It's true that God is really adept at invisibility. He gave us a super well-oiled machine of a creation that trundles along with physical laws and such so smoothly, we can hardly detect anyone running the show. In fact, atheists can taunt us with, “all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation,” 2 Peter 3:4.

Of course, the well-oiled machine of a creation is itself a clue to God’s hiding place (Psalm 19). But I like to think God hiccups too, giving us those sudden interruptions of the expected flow with a burning bush, an angel visitor, release from prison, visions, healings, resurrections. Those are hiccups - the unmistakable signs that rock the game and reveal our hidden God. That’s what God word is all about.

And now? Does our God still hiccup to help us find Him? Yes, God hiccups in new or “new covenant” forms. The gift of the Holy Spirit to each and every believer. The fruits of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) 1 Corinthians 13 love. Wisdom from above. (James 3:17-18) The every day lives of Jesus-people choosing to abide in Him and walk in good works no matter how terrible the times. Those (we) are also hiccups, so seekers can find Emmanuel, the hidden God who wants to be found.