Cave Dwellers

Recently, we took some visiting friends to see one of the many World War II sites here in Japan. The Japanese soldiers had dug out, by hand, an elaborate tunnel and cave system. It functioned as a military headquarters complete with electricity, conference rooms, bunk rooms, and a communications center. All of this is hidden from sight about 60 feet below the surface!  Truly amazing. Yet, near the end of the war, the inevitable became obvious. Sadly, the four remaining generals, rather than surrender, died by suicide. 

And, there have been others that tried to escape by hiding in caves; Bin Laden and Sadaam Hussein come to mind. Hmmm..things don’t seem to end well for those who hide in caves.  Yet, some will continue to try and do so.

In fact, Scripture describes what will happen in the Last Days when the judgment of God falls on those that have refused His offer of salvation and rejected Christ. It tells us in Revelation 6:15 NLT “Then everyone–the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person–all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.”  Really? At this point do they really believe they can hide from God? In a cave? 

Well, maybe not in a cave, but in one way or another, haven’t we all tried to hide from God? Yes! Starting all the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we have all tried to hide from God. But why, I wonder? Why do we do it? We know He can see us, right? Well, maybe we believe the lie that He could never accept us, never love us, never forgive us for what we’ve done. Or, we’ve blown it so many times, we’ve given up on ourselves. Maybe we believe that we could never come back to church after that. Or, we couldn’t possibly ask Him to forgive us. Not for that. Not again. But those are all lies! He loves us. He wants us to come to Him just the way we are – not run away and try to hide (as if we could). 

I love what it says in 1 John:8-9 NLT: “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”  So, let’s just admit it! We’re all sinners. We’ve all blown it more times than we can count.  But rather than hide…

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…”  Acts 3:19 NIV

“Times of refreshing” … Ahhh…doesn’t that sound good?  Come on out, surrender, and breathe the fresh air! It’s so much better than being a cave dweller.