In Plain Sight

He was hiding in plain sight. The longer it took to find him and all the other people hiding with him, the more convinced we were Uncle Tom and his team were cheating. He had to be, because we had checked every hiding spot on the property . . . twice.

I was around 10 years old, and Uncle Tom became a hide-and-seek legend that night. Truthfully, we were past the point of giving up. We were merely walking the property together as a team to ward off the uncomfortable feeling of searching it alone with so many people theoretically still in hiding, but seeming to have disappeared. We even sent one of our teammates inside to check with the other adults (Uncle Tom was already a hero for being the one outside playing with us in the dark), but no, nobody from the other team had come inside.

It was as though they had vanished . . .

. . . until I literally tripped over Uncle Tom lying quietly prone into one of the gentle grassy upslopes in the yard.

My heart nearly fell out of my chest! Uncle Tom’s team had not been in a hiding spot at all! In fact, they were “hiding” in about the most plain and open space on the entire property! It is true the long, dark shadows of the night aided their plan and made it difficult to see them unless you literally tripped over them, but at the same token, the only possible way to miss them was to neglect to look for them in the places that were in plain sight!

Our team had spent what felt like an eternity looking in and behind every tree, under every bush, and around every corner. Every place with the potential to conceal had been explored. The only square footage of the property left unchecked were the few places where there was nowhere to hide. As a result, hiding in plain sight turned out to be a winning strategy, not because of superior concealment but due to a lack of searching out.

I remember that night well—and fondly—and I’ve reflected on more than a few lessons from it, some of which are included in my book In Search of the King. But I tell the story now to ask you a related question:

“What treasure from God’s Word is hiding from you in plain sight?”

The unidentified psalmist who penned the longest chapter in the Bible said it this way: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Ps. 119:18).

There are treasures aplenty in God’s Word. It is to your glory to search them out. They are tucked within parables, letters to the early Church, and even in genealogies. If you look for them, you will find them!

And truthfully, the key to finding them is a consistent discipline of being in God’s Word and asking Him to open your eyes to its Truths hiding in plain sight.

Be faithful to be in His Word. Explore the corners of it, yes, but also simply be in the regular arc of His story and ask Him: “God, open my eyes to the wonderful things from Your law that You have for me today!”

Not every search is difficult or complex if you are searching in the correct place and asking for eyes that can see. God, open our community’s eyes to wonderful things, both those hidden and those plain. Allow us to see what we are currently missing but which is hiding in plain sight!