“It makes no difference whether any of you speak secretly or aloud, whether you are hiding under cover of night or skulking about in the day: each person has guardian angels before him and behind, watching over him by God’s command.” (Quran, 13:11)
For better or worse, none of us can hide from God. But that’s not as bad as it sounds.
Sure, He always sees our flaws—from our smallest sins to our dirtiest secrets. We can never truly escape accountability for our actions or run from our responsibilities without His knowing. (Jonah learned that well enough.) But the comforting reason for this…
…is that He cares.
He cares enough to be ever watchful of our progress and struggles through life. And He’s ever willing to help us out, if only we will turn to Him and ask.
The problem is, many of us treat life like an escape room—focusing so much on trying to succeed on our own that we forget our time here is limited and that we have access to unlimited hints. But we’re often too stubborn or too prideful or too stupid to ask for help. Even when there are “guardian angels before [us] and behind [us], watching over [us] by God’s command.”
But as I have to remind myself near the end of a difficult escape room: Would I rather succeed by asking for help, or fail because I didn’t want to admit that I needed it?
God has given us tons of lifelines to help us through our mortal sojourn—scriptures, prayer (“Phone a friend”), other people (“Ask the audience”), and more. Let’s use them and win.
The Commonplace Notebook 