The other day, Cole got in trouble for climbing over the armrest and flopping onto the couch. When I got onto him he got upset with me. "I'm going to hide from you!" he yelled.

"Why are you going to hide from me?"

"Because you got onto me!" He made his escape from the room.

My words followed after him as he ran down the hallway. "It wasn't my fault you were doing what you weren't supposed to. But if you want to hide from me, go ahead. When you need me I'll be right here."

As I listened to the sound of him jumping on his bed and burrowing under the covers, I thought about the situation and our verbal exchange.

How many of us have wanted to hide from our heavenly father? How many of us have wanted to flee his presence, hiding ourselves — and our sinfulness — from his view?

I know I have. My sins have been so numerous, so serious that I knew God couldn't stand to look at me. Or maybe I didn't want him to look at me, for my rebellion made me want to reject him before he even had the opportunity to reject me.

So I ran. I hid. I tried to make it hard for him to find me.

That's what Adam and Eve tried. When they ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, when their eyes were opened to their sin, they hid from God (Genesis 3:7-8).

As if God wouldn't know where they were. Their attempts to hide in the garden — the very garden God had created — were as futile as Cole's attempts to hide from me inside his own bedroom.

Did you notice something? Adam and Eve hid from God, God did not hide from Adam and Eve. I can imagine him thinking, "It wasn't my fault you were doing what you weren't supposed to. But if you want to hide from me, go ahead. When you need me, I'll be right here."

But God even went a step further. Instead of waiting for them to come to him, he went looking for them. And once he found them, he made provision for them — and ultimately, for their sin.

What God did for Adam and Eve, he still does today. He still seeks those who are hiding from him, having already made provision for their sins through his son, Jesus Christ.

Are you hiding from God? He already knows where you are. Surrender to him and receive his love and forgiveness.

Parrish Myers is a local minister. His column appears biweekly in Sunday Life and on gainesvilletimes.com/life.