God, why did you take such pains to hide yourself?
- Bertrand Russell
Existance is a conundrum. Creation’s glorious and everywhere, but it’s Creator’s intangible and aloof. Life’s joyous and wonderful, until consumed by pain and death. Humanity’s caring and creative, when we’re not hurting and destroying. Scripture adds to the quantum paradox. The Trinity’s Three and One. Christ is God and Man. The Kingdom’s here and not yet. Salvation’s by faith and works. Mankind’s fathered by God and the Devil. Humanity faces Heaven and Hell. Jesus has come and gone. And coming again.
That’s a lot to take in. Small wonder we get dazed and confused trying to make sense of it all. Thankfully, humanity’s been piecing the puzzle together for awhile now. God’s provided insights from godly men and women so we don’t have to go it alone. Yet, something seems missing from many Bible stories. We’re given details of the when and where people did right and wrong, but the how and why can be a little sketchy. Enter the Book of Psalms. Here we hear hearts soar and lament. We find the inner workings of faith and doubt. We glimpse past and future. Moments of happiness and horror expand our mind and soul. Throughout the Psalms, God’s plan and nature unfold. Written in real time. In hearts and lives. Throughout centuries of joy and pain.
God Who Hides Himself Summary
Absolute proof of God's existence abounds. A myriad of fulfilled Biblical prophecies strongly suggest He is the God of Scripture. Yet for most, His presence seems hidden and voice obscured by the many vying for our attention. As with other spiritual challenges, we are left with three options.
1. Give up: When it comes to failure to fully connect with God, entire denominations have gone so far as to create mistaken doctrines like cessation to justify unwillingness to address the issue. While dishonest in regards to Scripture, honesty in regards to the reality of our experience, as well as adherence to the status quo, seem justified.
2. Pretend: The favored choice of hundreds of millions, charismatic or not. Portraying occasional answered prayer as the rule, the spiritual books are cooked and expectations lowered. Scripture seems justified and business continues as usual.
3. Seek God: Such principles as the Bible’s perfect formula of repentance, honestly admit our situation and need to commit to taking whatever steps are necessary to more fully experience the Kingdom. Thereby engendering an authentic hope of breaking through to God, in such a way as to produce repeatable and demonstrable experiences in real time. Enduring miracles and transformations capable of not only withstanding the light of scrutiny, but revitalizing Churchianity.
This second Psalm in the Night continues the groundwork necessary to laying siege to Heaven. In light of the messages of such notables as Jeremiah and Habakkuk, not to mention Christ Himself in parables like a Friend Comes At Midnight and the Persistent Widow, impertinence is key. A melody in perfect harmony with the tenor of many passages, including the beloved Biblical Psalms.
God Who Hides Himself
Modern Psalm in the Night 2
Up hours before dawn, I appreciate the beautiful sunrise keeping me company. A flotilla of hundreds of puffy pink and orange clouds sailing north in the cool of the morning before we’re overtaken by the summer's blistering heat.
I'm glad You went the extra mile to make Earth wonderful and interesting. All the more so, thanks to the phenomenal blessings You’ve granted billions of my generation. Sorry we continually take so much for granted. Going so far as to use Your gifts against Your interests, those of others and even our own soul’s. Thanks for being merciful and patient. For warning and pleading with us through Scripture. Thanks for Your lovingkindness in making the sun shine on the righteous and the wicked. For constantly bettering our lifestyles through amazing breakthroughs in science and technology.
The fact that You've showcased your thoughtful love for us begs a question few seem able to satisfactorily answer. And not just any question, but one that in various ways may be among the most asked and important in human history.
Why do You hide Yourself?
Before continuing, let me state for the record I'm aware and humbled that You are the Lord God Almighty. Creator of at least 200 billion trillion suns. Each born, existing and expiring as a consuming fire, with trillions averaging a million degrees and Earth masses. Many orbiting super massive galactic black holes reaching billions of years of age, degrees and solar masses. All spread across a canopy with a growing observable diameter of almost 100 billion light years of spacetime in this the first and perhaps least of three heavens.
Let me also ask again today for permission to think and speak, pray and dream freely. I recognize that asking does not equate to receiving. Still, doing so seems preferable to mere presumption.
One more disclaimer. When speaking of and/or to You, humanity’s out of our depth. What do or could we know given that compared to the cosmos, much less Omnity, mankind’s next to nothing. Having infinitesimal existence for less than Planck length of time.
With that said, I humbly restate a question on everyone’s mind. Why hide Yourself? Hundreds of millions within modern Christianity try to deny it. Others are so wounded by Your apparent absence they denigrate Your very existence. Simply put, Your silence and distance is devastating. Reaction to the pain and anger of feeling abandoned by God can be obvious, as in the case of scathing attacks by brilliant scientists against Intelligent Design. Mankind’s frustration also works it way subtly through the back drop of our lives. It colors our thoughts and feelings, words and actions, in a thousand different ways.
Obviously we have a desperate need to better know our Creator and Savior. Clearly the Bible is full of encouragement and directives to do so. Yet today, with temptation ubiquitious, the world and even the modern church, are headed in the wrong direction. The wise honestly admit the reality of the situation, seeking to bridge the distance between us before it’s too late. Scripture’s full of passages regarding the subject. From admissions and explanations as to the source of the problem, to commands and promises designed to encourage faith in the midst of the darkness of doubt. Like so many Biblical authors, the prophet Isaiah and psalmist David often dealt with the paradox of Your nearness and distance. From mankind in general, and even Your own people:
- "‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.’” Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel. All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced; they will go off into disgrace together. But Israel will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.." Isaiah 45:14-17 New International Version - Emphasis QC’s
- "Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble. In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; he is haughty and your laws are far from him... His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength. He says to himself, "God has forgotten; he covers his face and never sees." Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless...O God, do see trouble and grief; consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. Psalm 10:1-14 New International Version - Emphasis QC’s
- "How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13 New International Version - Emphasis QC’s
Please accept my question in the spirit of meekness and hope in which it's intended. Clearly it’s the height of foolishness to bite the Hand that created and saves you. But this question is of eternal important to everyone. Who best to raise it than Prophetic Christians? We all need to believe in Your goodness. We want to trust in Your wisdom. It's vital if we are to obey the great commandment and love You with all our hearts, souls and minds.
But, if You'll forgive me for stating the obvious, quietly hiding Yourself doesn't make it easy.
Don't get me wrong, as if You could. I understand Scripture deals with this problem and its solution in detail. After over thirty years of research and tens of thousands of hours strategically seeking and serving You, I appreciate what the Bible has to says on the subject. With well over a thousand prayer meetings under my belt, and many times as many personal devotion sessions, I'm hauntingly familiar with hundreds of Biblical passages most chose to ignore.
I'm learning the hard way to be still, wait on and wrestle with You. Though to this point the match is all but One sided. I've studied and been studied by Your Word. I've meditated on Your messages of repentance and salvation, living faith and faith's additions, revival and glory. As well as the fear of God and coming Judgment.
I know the Law and the Prophets, the Gospels and Epistles, all agree the problem's on our end. Having been a director of state wide pro-life campaigns, I appreciate the impact abortion has had on society and the church. Including our very prayers and worship. As Isaiah warns:
- "Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways. The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace. So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead." Isaiah 59: 1-10 New International Version - Emphasis QC’s
I'm thankful for quantum hope in the fact You "take no pleasure in the death of the wicked." It's good news that You're not willing that any should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of repentance, truth and salvation. It's great that Your kindness is meant to lead us to repentance.
But is it? Aren't tens of thousands eternally perishing every day? Surely all are not coming to the knowledge of salvation as You desire. There must be far more going on than meets the eye to account for such a dreadful disparity. The Book of Job revealed a cosmic bet between You and Satan. A scenario instigated by You. Is there such a Wager in Eternity? One encompassing all of creation? Is Heaven's marred history overwriting our own? Given unprecedented and ubiquitous levels of temptation and deception, is it any wonder our hearts are hardened and unrepentive, often filled with feelings of entitlement and sin?
Even among Churchianity, only a remnant comprehend the vast role Satan and demonic resistance plays in human affairs. You know better. We stand utterly condemned for our immorality and sin, particularly my generation and the next. In the First World and beyond. We are totally without excuse. Yet even our behavior is not without explanation. For is it not written that he formally known as Lucifer, or in Hebrew הילל בן־שׁחר Helel Ben-Shachar, who stands accusing and condemning us first tempted and deceived us. And this after having led a myriad of angels astray? Ancient, holy and glorious angels from Heaven above. Dear God, what chance do we have to stand against so great an Adversary, his army and demonic resistance? Particularly given that in comparison, the entire human race was born yesterday and dies tomorrow? Balanced, if and when at all, on toes of flesh? Praying, if and when at all, as lungs expel air strumming vocal cords to the tune of two to three pounds of brain matter?
My request is simple. Please open our eyes. How can mankind avoid developing issues with God being all but blind to You and Your goodness? Not to mention our failure to understand our common Enemy. Or even the true nature of existence. How can things not go from bad to worse as we scramble for happiness and meaning, when all the while Earth's being manipulated into the path of Divine justice and judgment? And this while the stage is being set for the Great Tribulation? If spiritually and even physically we're dropping like flies during this the most prosperous time in human history, what's to become of us in the near future when war in Heaven breaks out and the Devil and his fallen angels are cast to Earth? Can the presumptive faith of hundreds of millions of believers who've been sold a bill of goods save us now or then? What of those forwarding false doctrines like the Pre-trib Rapture, rather than the Mid-trib Rapture Scripture clearly teaches? How shall we live through Revelation's sixty events, marking not only the coming of the Antichrist, but Armageddon and unprecedented global catastrophe laying waist to Earth and killing over half of humanity?
In the face of mounting need and suffering, soon to be magnified a million fold, "Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" Even while asking I know the answer better than most. Nevertheless I beg You to lower the bar, as You did for Peter. Open our eyes, that we might perceive and enter Your Kingdom, being transformed by Heaven’s light of life.
Regardless of the mounting accusations against us, I cry to You again this morning. "Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down." I've committed to keep at every day until my faith fails or the promises of Scripture are fulfilled. Like the desperate Canaanite mom and Your own mother Mary at the wedding feast of Cana, we can't afford to take no for an answer.
Allow me to conclude with a modified version of Scripture's most awesome prayer by the Apostle Paul. Grant this in it's entirety and I'll be satisfied. If not, what choice is there but to wrestle with You for what we need? To behave like the persistent widow who threatened to give You "no rest day and night" and "leave You beaten black-and-blue by her pounding."
I pray these things to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
of whom all the families of Heaven and Earth are named.
That You might grant by You glory
that we should be strengthened with all might
by Your Spirit which dwells in us by faith.
That being rooted in Your love
we might comprehend the length, depth, width and height
and know the love of God that passes knowledge.
That we might be filled with all the fullness of God.
with all the fullness of God...
Right here and now, in the light of day and forever more,
that we might be filled with all the fullness of God...
Now unto You who are able to do exceedingly,
abundantly beyond all we can ask or think,
according to the power that works within us,
which I pray would be immediate and unlimited.
May there be glory in Your church,
in every individual and family, group and organization,
congregation and denomination,
through Jesus Christ, throughout all ages,
including this present dark and evil one,
and that which is to come.
World without end. Amen.
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