He Calls You Beautiful By Dee BrestinSýnishorn

Deer!

In the deep woods of Wisconsin where I live, deer are plentiful. In the winter, when the tourists are gone, it is not unusual for me to drive down my driveway to startle a half dozen of them, sending them bounding, white tails disappearing into the cedar forest. But in the summer, they hide. My grandchildren and I go on hikes to look for them but seldom see them. How often, I wonder, have we walked right past them as they hide behind the leaves?

The Spanish Christian mystic St. John of the Cross commented on how the deer is an apt analogy for God:

It is noteworthy that in the Song of Songs the bride compares the Bridegroom to the stag. . . . She makes this comparison . . . because of the swiftness with which he shows and then hides himself. He usually visits devout souls in order to gladden and liven them, and then leaves in order to try, humble, and teach them.

When Christ does not give us what we want, we may feel like He is hiding. But we must ask ourselves: What is it I really want from God or do I want Him? When we turn to God only for what He can give and not to commune with who He is, we are treating Him as our servant and not as our Beloved. But when we desire His presence above all else, we enter into a dance with the Trinity.

Perhaps that is why God, like a deer, seems to hide sometimes. At those times when He hides, it is easy to become discouraged or to feel He must not love us. What God asks of us when He comes to us—either initially in salvation or day by day in our lives with Him—is to trust Him enough to follow Him, wherever He leads, and to seek Him, even when He seems to hide.

Has God ever seemed to be hiding in your life? When did you become aware again of His presence with you?