Buried Bliss And Finding the God Who Hides

One day Sarah went out and left with me with our three kids. Normally this is no big deal. I like to think that I do a pretty good job looking after my kids. But this night was different…The kids were going bananas. They were tired, I was tired, and all hell was breaking loose. (Parents you know what I'm talking about!)I finally got the kids into the bath, and began the night time routine with my youngest. As I got her dressed in her pyjamas, she began crying for her bottle of milk. So I placed her down in the cot and went to heat up the milk. But when I got to the fridge I realised there was no milk left.I couldn’t go down the street as Sarah had the car with the car seats.I was stuck at homewith a crying baby and no milk...I thought I would get creative and change the routine. I simply gave her her dummy, gave her a kiss on the forehead and said good night. Surely, she is so tired she won’t need her milk tonight… I quickly and quietly walked out of her room and as I shut the door she suddenly clicked that Dad had not given her milk and what was a tired cry, now turned into the "Dad, I'm starving to death" cry.I thought I could trick her by giving her a bottle of water, but she was on to me and she was not impressed that I was not getting her milk. Her cries were getting louder, and louder, and I was running out of options. All I could do was shut the door and try and ignore the cries that were beginning to pierce my brain.Exasperated, I called my wife, who called a friend who lives around the corner. She agreed to drop off the milk. Thank you Jesus, the crisis would soon be over.I got the other two kids out of the bath and started drying and dressing my other daughter. As I did this my eldest son – still fully nude, raced off.“That’s fine!” I thought. “I’ll just round him up in a minute.”But when I was finally finished dressing his sister, with the baby now rattling the walls with her screaming,  I couldn’t find him. He had literally disappeared. I started searching throughout the house. I checked his normal hiding spots, I checked under the bed, out the back, and the toy room. But he wasn’t there. I even checked the washing machine (found him there before! #storyforanothertime #pleasedontjudgeme) but nope, not there. Where on Earth is this kid?The stress was increasing.The crying was increasing.The tension was increasing.The fury was increasing.And the longer I looked to no avail, the more I began to fear. How does a child disappear? How did I lose my son? What am I going to tell my wife?Suddenly, I thought I heard the front door shut. I ran to the front door thinking maybe he went out the front. I rushed outside expecting to see him racing down the road, but here was our friend getting out of her car with the milk.“Hi James, how are you?”Trying to remain calm I said, “I’m good thanks… Ummm. You haven’t seen my son have you? He’s… lost.”She began to help me look for him. He wasn't up the road. One more look through the backyard, and again through the house, when all of a sudden,My naked little boy jumped out of our shoe chest and giggled,“Hahaha! I’m here!”All was well. I had stressed out for no reason at all. My son was with me the whole entire time. I just could not find him. He wasn’t hiding because he didn’t want me. He was hiding because he wanted me to find him.The same is true with God. He hides – not from us, but for us. He loves it when we actually go looking for him. He loves it when we make a move to turn our attention and affection towards Immanuel, the God who is always present with us.Jesus said it this way,

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field.Matthew 13:44

Bliss literally means, "The joy of salvation." This joy is in every single born again believer. Sadly, this treasure, is all too often buried and hidden, totally ignored or forgotten about. Whilst it is inside of us, many miss it, not realising the glory that abides within.Here are three points to remember about Buried Bliss and Finding The God Who Hides.The Kingdom of Heaven is Treasure. The bounty of bliss is like gold and precious rubies. It is valuable and beautiful! And of course, the Kingdom of God is in us! There is love, joy, peace and righteousness in the Holy Spirit! (Romans 14:17)The Kingdom of Heaven is hidden. When we are born again we have everything we need for life and godliness. (2 Peter 1:3) But it is concealed within us. Hidden by our dark thoughts, and inattention. We must renew our minds and become aware of the glory that dwells in us!The Kingdom of Heaven is worth sacrifice. We have been blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3) All the glory of Heaven resides in us! But we need to seek to find. Bliss is worth looking for. It is worth a bit of pain and heart surgery in order to reveal and experience it.The Bounty of Bliss is not hidden because God does not want us to experience it. Rather He wants us to discover it. Like a couple falling in love, learning about each other day after day, God wants us to discover more about Him and His love and our union with Him every day.Jesus is our joy. He is our Salvation. He is the greatest treasure. He is the desire of the Nations. And He loves us so much He has given Himself to us. He is closer than we think and better than we can imagine. He is waiting for us to look, and when we do, we will find Him jumping out of a box, full of joy, saying,"Hahaha I'm here!"