You Can't Hide

Here is a short list of things you can’t hide.

• You can’t hide an elephant behind a palm tree.
• You can’t hide the fact that you just ate an Oreo, a blue sucker, or a red Popsicle. Your teeth and tongue will betray you.
• You can’t hide 38 hips in 32 jeans. For some people it is not just about buying “modest” clothing, but “honest” clothing.
• You can’t hide a zit on the end of your nose. Ladies have the luxury of using what is referred to as “cover up.” Men just have to bare their zits, while ladies try to “cover up.” But when it is on the end of your nose “cover up” is like putting a VW under a tarp.
• You can’t hide laughter in church. If you have ever tried to stop laughing in church, then you know that trying to stop the holy giggles most often leads to an unbecoming snort. The laughing starts all over again.
• You can’t hide what God is doing in your life.

After Elijah’s disappearance in 2 Kings 2:11, Elisha took his cloak. The sons of the prophets recognized that “the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha (2 Kings 2:15).” Elisha could not hide the fact that he was now the prophet in Elijah’s place, but the sons of the prophets wanted to make sure Elijah wasn’t hiding. Even though they knew Elijah had been taken up by a whirlwind they wanted to make sure that the Spirit of the LORD had not set him down on a mountain or in a valley (2 Kings 2:16). After urging Elisha to allow them to go off and look for the missing prophet, he reluctantly granted them permission to search. “And for three days they sought him but did not find him (2 Kings 2:17).”

Transition is difficult. Though the men were accepting of Elisha as the new prophet, they wanted to see for themselves if Elijah was simply missing or truly gone. Hiding Elijah would be like hiding an elephant behind a palm tree. He was too well known and too easily recognizable. He was either on the planet, or he was not. When you make your declaration that you desire to be a man or woman of God, people will immediately begin to look for what’s missing. Has your language changed? Are there course words of cursing that were once so much a part of your vocabulary that are now missing? Curse words are like elephants behind palm trees. They don’t just “slip out” and they reveal a lot about your character. Have you changed your habits, your paths, your attitudes? Has the old you truly gone missing, or is it simply on vacation? When you decide to transition life into being a man or woman of God, people will begin to search, desiring to see if the old you is truly gone.

Changing character is difficult. You can’t drop old habits, you must replace them. Ephesians 4:17-32 is a list of old habits that must be replaced. The thief must work. The old life must become a renewed life. The liar must speak the truth. The old life cannot simply be hidden, it must be replaced. If you are truly a man or woman of God, even though you may make mistakes from time to time, people will begin to see the change. It will be unmistakable. Let them search for what is missing. In time they will see that truly you have become a man or woman of God.