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GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD
Encountering an extraordinary God in ordinary life
Issue # 165 June 11, 2001
Camouflage
The squirrel chattered at me and the decided to hide. It turned its back, fanned out its tail to break its outline and sat perfectly still. If I hadn’t been watching the whole process, I would have walked right by and never noticed it.
A little farther down the path, a cat saw the dog and I coming and sat perfectly still in the shadows. Its black color was a match for the shadow, and again I could have walked by without ever having seen the cat.
Down by the pond, two Bohemian waxwings sat perfectly still in the branches of a dying evergreen. Their rust colored feathers a near perfect match for the branches of the dying spruce tree. I knew to watch or them there from previous walks, or they too would have gone unseen.
People too, are masters of camouflage. It is a different kind of protection, it helps keep others from seeing the real us.
Some people use abrasive and coarse personas to hide caring personalities that don’t want to be hurt again.
Some people pick a segment of the population and look like that to try and fit in. Did you ever watch a group of junior high students show their “individuality”? Their individuality comes only from the fact that they dress and act differently than their parents. Often they dress and act virtually identical to their individualistic peers.
We get on a bus or walk down a city street and put on our invisibility suits. We don’t say anything and we refuse to make eye contact with anyone else.
We are all trying to hide something from someone, if only from ourselves. Yet, no matter how hard we try or how well we camouflage, there is one person who knows the truth.
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
Psalm 139:1-12 NIV
It’s time to take off the camouflage and get right with Him. He already knows and sees, you are not fooling Him.
Until next time, may He give you the courage to reveal the truly beautiful person He is making you into.
God bless.
Kevin
If you don’t have a relationship with God and are tired of running and hiding, email me. I will share a few Bible verses that will help you understand why you need a relationship with Jesus. I’ll also share a brief prayer that will make it possible.
Please stop hiding from Him today.
© 2001 K.F. "Kevin" Corbin
All Rights Reserved