Hiding in Plain Sight

Have you ever "googled" yourself?  It's amazing what you can discover about a person just by typing their name into a search engine and making a few clicks.  The amount of personal information now instantly available  has dramatically changed how managers hire new employees, how singles find a compatible mate, and how we define what it means to be "friends."  

But along with the dramatic increase in personal info out there, we've become even more secretive about our true, inner selves.  We might have 1000 Facebook friends but rarely sit down with any of them for a cup of coffee.  Young Americans now "hook up" for sex without ever having gone on a date with their partner... and with no intention to do so!  More and more we seem content to remain anonymous.  It's safer, better that way, we've convinced ourselves.  We've become experts at hiding in plain sight.

What does it mean, then, to have a Savior who claims to know every part of us, both our public and our private selves?  "I know my sheep," Jesus declares boldly, this coming Good Shepherd Sunday.  "Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely... You are familiar with all my ways", the Psalmist declares.  

Few can bear worshiping a God who claims to truly and deeply know us, down to the number of hairs on our heads.  Our secret selves, known?  Our private shame, revealed?  What a terrifying thought!

Yet, even knowing His sheep perfectly, the Shepherd relentlessly, lovingly searches for us, no matter how we try to conceal our inner selves.  

Until the day we cease from all our hiding... forever secure, forever known, in His embrace.  

~Brady