Is God Hiding

I see a man spoken of as being perfect and upright, a man that hated evil and turned away from it.  There is also none like this man in all the earth.  He is a man that has lost everything, including his seven sons and three daughters.  I see this man as his wife eventually tells him to curse God and die.

God allowed Satan to trouble this man named Job with great misery and loss, perhaps like no other man.  But Job's testimony was ... "Though He slay me, yet will I serve Him." 

In all that happened to him, it is said of Job ... "In all this Job did not sin with his lips."

I wonder during Job's long trial if he ever thought God was hiding from him?  He did say this ...

Job 23:3 ... "Oh that I knew where I might find Him ..."

The language used by Job expresses the condition and feeling of this Godly man in his time of testing.  It's as if he is in darkness and cannot find God as he once could.  Job continues to speak about his futile attempt to reach out and find God who seems to be silent and hidden.

Job 23:8-9 ... "Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; I go backward but I cannot perceive Him ... I go to the left and to the right, but cannot behold Him ... He hideth Himself that I cannot see Him."

My interpretation is ... "I look in all directions but cannot find God because He is hiding from me and does not want me to find Him."

Job 23:13-14 ... "But He is of one mind and who can turn Him?  What His soul desireth, He does.  For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me."

I believe Job's meaning could be this ... "God has formed His plans for me and no one can divert Him from them."  The idea seems to be that God was now accomplishing a plan He formed for Job, which Job must submit to because, as a Sovereign God ... He does what He pleases and no one can resist His purpose or decree.

Job did not know the reason why this trial was appointed ... he only knew that it wasn't because of God's wrath, nor was it by chance.  There was a reason for it, even though we cannot see the reason anywhere in the Book of Job.

The question, "Is  God Hiding" did not originate with me.  It's also found in ...

Psalms 10:1 ... "Why standest thou afar off, O LORD?   Hidest thou in times of trouble?"

The Psalmist begins with the complaint, "Lord why are you standing afar off," which suggests the Lord was a spectator with an attitude of indifference and unconcern.  God is never far off from any of His children for He is everywhere ... but when He defers help and assistance to those asking for it, it feels as if He withdraws His presence and hides from them.

Psalms 13:1 ... "How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD?  For ever?  How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?"

David is literally asking God ... "I'm forgotten until when, forever?"   Like Job, David has had enough, feeling as though his trials will never end.  "How long" refers to both questions ... first that he seemed to be forgotten by God.  And second ... that God was hiding from him.

Another Psalmist also asks this same question of the Lord in ...

Psalms 89:46 ... "How long Lord, wilt thou hide thyself ... forever?"

He sounds a lot like I did in the past when seeking the Lord for an answer to a serious problem and nothing changed ... "Lord, how long is this going to continue?  Can it be that this will be forever this way?  Is there to be no change for the better?  Are the promises you made never to be fulfilled?"

I used to ask the Lord, why?  I don't ask anymore.  Do you know why?  Because He doesn't answer that question ... at least not to my satisfaction.

Isaiah 8:17 ... "I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth His face ... and I will look for Him."

Even though many times we may feel like God is hiding from us, be like Isaiah ... wait and look for Him. 

So the question might be raised ... if God is silent as if to be in hiding ... there must be a reason.  The following scripture speaks to possibly one reason ...

Isaiah 59:1-2 ... "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; But your iniquities have separated you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear."

The idea here is that sin separates "like a partition, a wall" and caused or made Him hide so that He withdraws, neglects our prayers and denies their answers until we repent.  But notice this scripture says, "your sins have hid His face from you."  God doesn't do it, we do. 

Could He today be angry or upset with His church?  What about an individual?  If so, how much longer will He allow things to go?  How long will He leave matters to take their own course?  If He doesn't show Himself soon, if He doesn't come back soon, will there be any faith left upon the earth?  I believe this is one of the questions Jesus Himself asked in Luke 18:8.

But all is not bad news.  Not to worry, because God said in ...

Ezekiel 39:29 ... "Neither will I hide my face any more from them ..." speaking of Israel, and I assume that means the believers in Jesus also.  That's you and me.

My conclusion then is this ... whenever we feel as though God is not paying attention, or He has backed away from us and has become just a spectator, or maybe the age old question ... "is God hiding" ... is brought back up, be assured, the problem is not with God.  We had better search our hearts to see if there be any sin or unbelief of any kind that fogs up our view of Jesus.

In fact the Apostle Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 13:5 ... "Examine yourselves ... prove your own selves.  Know ye not ... that Jesus Christ is in you ..."

Vincent's Word Studies states ... "'Yourselves' is emphatic.  Instead of putting Christ to the test, test yourselves.  To try yourself is better than examine.  Examination does not necessarily imply a practical test.  Trial implies a definite intent to ascertain spiritual condition."

Once again I turn to Nicholas Herman, the seventeenth century Carmelite monk from French Lorraine to sum up what we should do when we think God is hiding.  He says ... "He is within us; seek Him not elsewhere."



Comments welcome.