No Hiding

There are some stories in scripture of people pushing their way to Jesus. Others are arrogant and argue with Jesus. Then there's the story of the woman who sees herself as unworthy and hides from him. At the same time, she believes in who he is enough that she makes her way into the crowd to touch the hem of his clothes, believing that simply touching his clothes would heal her.

"But Jesus said, "Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me." When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed." –Luke 8:46-47 NLT

Touching Jesus did heal her, but it ended her desire to hide from Jesus and everyone else. God sees all of us, whether we'd like him to or not. No matter how much shame, guilt, or self-punishment we have going on, God sees past our darkness and pulls us into the light.

"Thank God, she thinks, he doesn't know what kind of woman I am. But he does know what kind of woman she is." (Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli. p. 81)

He sees every misstep we make and every wrong decision and still chooses to interact with us every day. This fact is what brought me back to God. I knew that he loved me. What overwhelmed me was that he loved me even though I turned my back on him. I couldn't pretend to be anyone with God. He knew every thought and action, yet he still loved me.

He still knows those things. When I confess to God, I often say something I've done in my heart because it drives my actions.