Opening prayer
Here I am, Lord. I want to be fully present to you — all of me faced toward you, oriented toward you — so that I might fully engage with you. Be fully present to me as well that we might meet in this time. In Jesus. Amen.
Read
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-9)
Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am” (1 Samuel 3:4).
Engage
The man and the woman hide from God when the reality of their sin hits them. When recently did you hide from others (food wrappers you didn’t want anyone to see; a purchase you know wasn’t a good idea; a website you know you shouldn’t have been on; and so on)? And how does hiding like that change your relationships?
Where are you hiding from God? And how has that changed your relationship with him?
Thankfully, God persists in relationship with us, seeking us in the most important game of hide and seek ever. Are you willing to be found? What are you afraid of if you have to face God with your failings?
In Samuel’s response to God, we hear the most basic prayer in the Scriptures: “Here I am” (Hebrew: hineni). It’s kind of like a little kid playing hide and seek who is tired of hiding and wants to be found. Are you ready to ?
Pray
Come clean with God about what you’re hiding. Tell him what you’ve been afraid of that has caused you to hide.
Ask God for help in stopping the hiding you’re doing in other relationships as well.
Say to God, “Here I am.” Be found. Be knowable.
Live
Write the words “Here I am” on ten Post-It notes and put them around your room, bathroom, car, or other places where your eyes can remind your heart to not only pray those words but to live openly toward God and toward others.
Closing prayer
Here I am, Lord. All of me present to all of you. This is how I want to live all the time. Please keep drawing me out of myself, out of hiding. I want to know you and be known by you, but I get so afraid of being rejected by you, having been rejected by others. Kill that fear by your great mercy. Through Jesus, my Savior and Lord. Amen.