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I am familiar with hiding.

Apart from the regular game of hide-n-seek, my cousin and I often invented other hiding games. We invented imaginary giants to hide from in my grandfather’s barns. If we chose to play cowboys and Indians, one of us would hide.

The hog pens also provided ample opportunity for hiding. Amidst the mud lay areas of broom straw taller than us. We enjoyed aggravating the hogs. After doing so—since we knew our grandmother would soon appear and scold us—we ducked between the straw.

Hiding began when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and thought they could hide their sin. And it’s been happening since then because we’re born with a sinful bent that leads us to disobedience. When we disobey, we attempt the same thing as our first parents.

God has created in us the ability to know right from wrong. Although we do wrong from an early age, we reach a point when we recognize it. After that, our failure to admit the wrong makes us want to hide like our first parents.

God can also hide from us—perhaps to stretch our faith. He’s there, but He makes His presence less prominent. He wants us to stretch for Him, to realize our need for Him, and to let our faith deepen.

When God hides, He tests our resolve. His apparent absence makes us consider the seriousness of our love and service for Him and our sincerity about whatever task we undertake.

Times of absence may also signal that God is busy preparing circumstances—or even us—for something different or better. God hid from Moses while he lived on the back side of the desert tending sheep, from Elijah while he hid in a cave, and from Joseph while Joseph languished in a foreign country.

But God never truly hides; it only seems that way. In those times, pause, trust, pray, and ask what He’s up to.