Tom Burke

April 2026
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I’m sure that many of us played the game of “hide and seek” when we were younger. I was never a very good seeker, but I was great at hiding. So great that once I spent 20 minutes squeezed in a kitchen cabinet before I realized that my friends had given up – or forgotten about me entirely – and had gone outside to play some other game.

Somehow, though, I was never able to hide from God. It turns out I’m not the only one.

Psalm 139:1–12 (New American Standard Bible 1995)For the choir director. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have  searched me and known me.

You  know  when I sit down and  when I rise up; You  understand my thought from afar.

You scrutinize my  path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

You have enclosed me behind and before, And  laid Your hand upon me.

Such  knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol,¹ behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,”

Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.

God is the ultimate seeker, and what He seeks, He finds. Jonah discovered this,² as have many others who attempted to hide from Him, starting with Adam and Eve. (Spoiler – God found them.)³

In his earthly ministry, our Lord Jesus Christ was an active participant in His Father’s business. He openly declared, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” ⁴ And the work he was engaged in was, like his Father, the work of seeking.

Luke 19:10 (King James Version)For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Note that the Lord’s purpose in seeking was not simply to find, but to save. However, contrary to the teaching of theologians who suggest that God’s grace is irresistible,⁵ the message that Jesus proclaimed, and that the Gospel proclaims today, can be heard and yet rejected.

And yet, why would anyone want to reject such a message? Why would anyone choose not to be saved, considering the alternative? Jesus clearly taught that when the lost one was found, the result was always blessing, and rejoicing in heaven.⁶ The motive behind God’s relentless seeking is clearly explained in the Scriptures.

Ezekiel 34:16 (King James Version)I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

This same heart is evident in God’s gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.

John 3:16–18 (King James Version)For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

In all honesty, if you were to offer me, say, a new car based on these terms, I’d suspect a scam. I would be examining the fine print, looking for a catch. Why? Because all of the cost is on God’s side, and all of the benefit on mine. That is not a fair deal!

But grace is never a fair deal (praise God). Which again raises the question, why would anyone not immediately take advantage of this proposition? The answer lies in the verses that follow.

John 3:19–20 (King James Version)And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Light is an amazing thing. It reveals the things around us, so that we can confidently navigate the world around us. It allows us to see things as they really are. But it also exposes who we really are. And that is a scary prospect.

Why? Because, by nature, we know that we are not the people we pretend to be. So we make the choice that Adam and Eve did. In fear and shame, we head for the trees. The first sign of light causes us to back away into the shadows. As though God would be unable to see us there!

Isaiah 29:15 (New International Version)Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”

As we saw in David’s psalm, God has excellent night vision.⁷ And, while He will never force us out of the darkness, He is patiently and lovingly waiting for the moment when we take those first steps toward the light.

John 3:21 (King James Version)But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

This verse does not imply that some among us are “good people” who welcome the light so that it can reveal how good they are. As we saw in verse 18, we are all “condemned already.” If that were not the case, we would not have needed a savior.

Rather it speaks of those who desire to “do truth,” so that they can step into the light without fear or shame. Yes, the light continues to expose our imperfections, but now we welcome this, knowing that God sees it all,⁸ and yet loves us without any qualification.

I‘m sure that many of you have made that step into the light, humbled yourselves before God and accepted the gracious gift of salvation. Aren’t you glad you did?

And yet I also suspect that at times, due to things that you have done or failed to do, you, like me, have begun looking for a dark tree to hide in.

In those moments, consider these words:

1 John 3:20 (King James Version)For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

The Greek word translated “condemn” in this verse is not the usual word for condemn. It is the word kataginosko, meaning to have a knowledge against. In other words, though I know that I am righteous in Christ, the knowledge of my own failure causes me to conclude that, for me, that righteousness has evaporated.

However, God has a knowledge (ginosko) as well. He knows that He has justified me in Christ. He knows that nothing can separate me from His love.⁹ He knows that He will never leave me or forsake me.¹⁰ And He is God. Therefore, in all situations, His knowledge trumps my own.

Once I recognize and accept this blessed truth, I am able to once again fully experience the joy, peace, and freedom that are fully and eternally mine due to His gift of His only son for my salvation.

1 John 3:21–22 (King James Version)Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.

And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.