Hidden to Covered

The Enemy is crafty.  I struggle and find myself unbelieving Truth.  Believing his lies.  Satan's lies are rooted in disbelief, in doubt, in believing that God is not who He says He is.  Even that God does not want us to be like Him.  As I grow and He works in me, I become free - free from insecurity, free from disbelief, free from lies.  But the more I grow, the enemy still seeks after me, albeit, he has to begin to work differently.  Relentlessly Jesus pursues me and never stops.  When I am at my weakest most condemning sinful places, I hide.  I want to cover my sin, my shame, my hurt, my fear, my humanity, my hopelessness, the lies I've believed from the enemy.  I fight, I struggle, and I hide from God most of all.  For it is He whom I fear will not really accept me.  It may be because I am broken or a relationship is broken.  I fear He will not accept me, the awful me that I can really be.  Everyone else may give up their pursuit of me.  He does not.

I like to hide.  I am a master at it, but He never stops playing the game.  He continues the pursuit.  He finds me.  He covers me and takes away the shame.  It is loving and tender and it brings me back to a relationship with Him.

What did Adam and Eve do in the Garden when they first sinned?  They hid.  They made their own coverings - covering inadequate to completely cover their sin and shame.  Their fellowship with God broken. 

But what did God do?  He looked for them.  Brought them out of hiding into the light.  He gave them consequences for their sin, yes, but He made for them proper coverings of skins, to hide their sin and shame.  Blood was shed.  Life was given to cover them.  And the work of restoration was begun.

Years later, Jesus was the once for all sacrifice.  He covers our sin, our shame, our insecurities, our hopelessness, to healing, restoration, and hope.

"But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent"—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God." 

Hebrews 9:11-15 (MSG)

Will you come out of hiding to the promised pursuit of Christ 

who covers you with His blood?