When Adam sinned he tried to hide himself from God, but there was no thicket in the garden of Eden dense enough or dark enough for that. From that day to this, men have been looking for a hiding place and, apart from God's mercy in Christ, looking in vain.
One who had been a prisoner in a maximum security cell said that the most painful circumstance of his confinement was an opening in his cell where he knew a guard would watch him night and day. He was haunted by that ever-seeing eye, and could never lose the consciousness of being watched.
Even so, the eye of a holy and all-seeing God is always upon us. Just as the prisoner could see that watchful eye with his own, so our conscience within us reminds us that "Thou God seest me." "There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." Job 34:2222There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. (Job 34:22).
There is no place for the sinner to hide, except in Christ. He would like to run away from God, but what does he gain by all his efforts to hide? The Lord Jesus said, "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." John 3:19, 2019And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. (John 3:19‑20).
Out of Christ, all the hiding places are "refuges of lies." It was Augustine who said, "If you want to run away from a sin-hating God you must run to Him; if you would hide from Him you must hide in the arms of His love and mercy."
Christ is the true and only hiding place. He is the Man who is a "hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest." No wonder that the one who hides in Christ and knows the peace and joy of forgiveness finds Him to be the one hiding place through all the troubles of life.