**Author note: The following is from my work in progress—a book about overcoming worry. I couldn’t wait to share it. I hope you enjoy it.
I remember my oldest son’s toddler days when his soft curls would bounce as he paraded around the house. But one day his parade didn’t circle back to me as usual.
When his silence grew louder, I became suspicious. Sixty seconds of panic turned into two minutes of me yelling his name, opening and closing closet doors. I frantically checked outside in the yard.
Then I heard a rustle coming from the kitchen. I retrieved him, cheeky smile and all, from one of the lower cabinets. That day we graduated out of peek-a-boo into the era of hide-and-seek.
I always knew when the game was on. The sparkle in his eye spelled mischief. The he would flash a cheeky smile and dart away. His game usually left me searching for him in grocery aisles and check-out lanes.
Once, I spent a harrowing few minutes seeking him at the mall, only to find him hiding inside a circular clothing rack in a department store.
Like my son once did, Scripture speaks about God hiding himself so we will seek Him. “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings” (Prov. 25:2).
Jesus furthers the analogy when he compares the Kingdom of Heaven to hidden treasure. When I read Matthew 13:44, I always picture the loot you might find on board a pirate ship.
Rubies, emeralds and gold coins spill out onto the soil. The prize of kings spills on the turf of the common farmer. And who is this God that would hide treasure in a place so common where anyone can find it?
When we seek God through his Book, meditating on truth and his character, we can find him in mundane places. At the desk, or the shop or the kitchen sink, we can imagine him and see him in a thousand ways we haven’t before.
Jesus’ parable ends in the same way our quest to know God and overcome worry and anxiety begins. The excited man sells everything he has to buy the field where the treasure is hidden. He pays a small price for a fortune.
If the parable of the hidden treasure explains hiding, Jesus’ next story, about a merchant hunting for the best pearls, describes seeking. “When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it,” (Matt. 13:46 NIV).
We too must pay the price of focusing our minds on Christ. Union with Christ requires our total attention. We wield meditation as a tool of knowing Christ.
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