Can you see him?  There he was, enjoying a shower when I watered my pepper plants.  As I was showering the leaves and inspecting for bugs, I saw what looked like a damaged leaf.  As I reached in to pinch it off, an eye stared up at me, just daring me to disrupt his resting place.  And of course I didn’t!  What a beautiful creature, so well hidden I had to look carefully to even see him on the leaf. His back matched the color of the leaves exactly.

Many creatures show God’s amazing ingenuity by the way they are able to camouflage themselves.  Big game cats blend into the brush, praying mantas hide on the stems of plants, rabbits and squirrels disappear into landscape, and leopards are almost invisible sitting in a tree. Some reptiles even change color according to their surroundings.  This God-given protection not only keeps them from their enemies, but also allows the species to survive.

However, the protection that God gives his own children is even more amazing.  He knows we have a crafty, dangerous enemy that is far more treacherous than any earthly predator. This enemy is described as a lion who wants to devour us.  In Ephesians 6:10-18, Paul writes about our “battle gear”, and one might mistakenly believe that we must fend for ourselves with those tools, but this is not the case.  They are spiritual necessities that guard our hearts from fear and assure us that one much greater than the enemy is on our side so we can remain secure while — God takes down our enemy.

Paul also reminds Christians “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” Colossians 3:3-4 (ESV).  Christ who is your life may be one of the most powerful phrases in the New Testament.  We are no longer our own, we belong to Christ.  In fact, he is so much our life that he is the surrounding we blend into.  He hides us, both in life and in death.  Our first earthly death is when we surrender ourselves to him, and he becomes our new life.  Then, when the physical life is over, we are hidden with him for eternity.  Think ‘tucked away’ from harm, close to him, surrounded by him, until he comes again.

I do not pretend to know how all this will happen in the end.  But I do know that until my life ends, I am content, and thankful, that Christ is the one who has me.  He has hidden me in his love, and I match the color of his salvation exactly.  Not because I am so good but because He is so good, and he has rescued me.

If you feel like you are in danger, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, wrap yourself up in your battle gear.  Allow the Spirit to assure you that you are safe, hidden in Him, no matter what happens.