I have gleeful memories of playing games of hide-and-seek with my Dad.

Excitedly, I would tiptoe to look for the best hideaway that my child’s mind could conceive. Once I found one, I would hide and wait, then wait a bit longer.

I could hear his footsteps walking past my hiding spot as he pretended to be baffled as to where I was hiding. Eventually, my Dad would allow me to turn myself in when, despite my giggles, he would feign defeat and give up on locating me.

The twist in our game, though, was when roles reversed and he was the one to hide and I was the one to seek him. Suddenly, after a respectable allotment of time, he would jump out of his hiding place with a “Boo!” or stand where I’d turn a corner and find him.

I, the supposed seeker was, in fact, being sought.

In Hosea, we are told to seek the Lord until He comes and rains righteousness on us. The divine object of our seeking has His Fatherly eyes upon us all the while. He intercepts our path, lavishly bestowing torrents of blessings upon us, for He Himself had been seeking us.