When God Hides His Face

[goodreport]

Isa 54:7-8
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.  In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

One thing needs to be clearly kept in the foreground of our thinking, it is the FACT that "lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."  (Matt 28:20).  For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my Helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."  (Heb 13:5-6).  Many more verses could be given, but these two are sufficient to emphasize the fact that He is with us, always will be, and in no way will fail us, nor forsake us.

How then do we harmonize these verses with the passage used for our opening scripture, that for a small moment He hath hidden His face from us?  It is no contradiction!  But it does remain for us to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and to discern the various dimensions and realms of His inworkings, so that we do not confuse "OUTWARD AWARENESS with His INNER SUSTAINING."

He hid His face --He went away,
To test and prove if I'd obey,
To walk by faith, and live by hope,
Till He redemption's door doth ope.

"Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him:  on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him; He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him: but He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23: 8-10).

How can I know Him better if I cannot even find Him?  Surely there is neither rhyme nor reason to all this, is there?  Yes, Divine wisdom is revealed through the uniqueness of this part of our processing, so that we learn to TRUST Him even when not outwardly conscious of His presence.

Taken from Ray Prinzing's Daily Overcoming Devotional
http://godfire.net/rayprinzing/july_24.htm 

[WhiteWings]

That's what I call a good report.


Thanks Good Reporter  :goodone:

[lomarah]

 :2thumbs:

[Deena]

Yes, another good post. I was just asking a friend this question:why does my relationship with God feel like a hide and seek game that leaves me calling out for my lover in tears. My love, my song, where are You?

[Paul L]

Yes, another good post. I was just asking a friend this question:why does my relationship with God feel like a hide and seek game that leaves me calling out for my lover in tears. My love, my song, where are You?

I know the feeling. What I do is ask God this question everyday: "How does it benefit us for you to hide from us".

[reFORMer]

(Something God gave me a couple of years ago...)


"We're born into other men's homes,
raised in their schools of thought...
we're victims of their sins and
subjected to their gods."

Until we can get beyond all this
we can't even find the starting line.

[se7engames]

hiya goodreport,

Here is my opinion on your question. I'm no scholar, just a student of the word. So it's only my opinion, but I hope it brings peace...

All those verses you quoted where it said that "God had hidden His face". Notice what covenant it was in?  The old testament. Isaiah 54, I believe the Word was talking about the restoration of Israel and all of His creation. While Jesus was on the cross God had to dump all his wrath and anger on His son, and then he looked away in a brief moment. When that happened, Jesus cried out

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me"

At the moment God turned away from His son, God looked at us, and said "welcome home".  When the price was paid, the Father turned back to His son, and the rest of Isaiah says....

7 "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
8 In a surge of anger
    I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
    I will have compassion on you,"
    says the Lord your Redeemer.

9 "To me this is like the days of Noah,
    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
    never to rebuke you again.
10 Though the mountains be shaken
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
    nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

And now, in the new covenant (this covenant of peace and grace), the Word says in  1 John 4:17 "By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world."

As Jesus is, so are we in this world. He is gloriously together with the Father, so are we. He is perfect and beautiful and wondrous to behold!!!  So are we, in this world.

The Father doesn't hide His face towards us anymore! In the old testament, it felt like God hid His face to His people because they were under the old covenant of the law (the law reveals sin, not God). But now that we are under the covenant of grace, Jesus clearly demonstrated  the love the Father has for us!!!

The old covenant was just that... old. God fulfilled it with a new and better covenant, Jesus!!!! We disqualify ourselves if we think we can obey the law and have God love us because of what we do. It's in knowing that Jesus paid the price for me and was the perfect sacrifice that lets me know, I'm totally accepted and loved.  I'm God's beloved son, and in me, He is well pleased. NOT because of what I do, but because of WHAT HE DID!!!! Because, just as Jesus is now, so am I in this World.

our Father is not hiding from us anymore, because of the cross, because of Jesus!

I hope that helps!

[goodreport]

hiya goodreport,

Here is my opinion on your question. I'm no scholar, just a student of the word. So it's only my opinion, but I hope it brings peace...

All those verses you quoted where it said that "God had hidden His face". Notice what covenant it was in?  The old testament. Isaiah 54, I believe the Word was talking about the restoration of Israel and all of His creation. While Jesus was on the cross God had to dump all his wrath and anger on His son, and then he looked away in a brief moment. When that happened, Jesus cried out

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me"

At the moment God turned away from His son, God looked at us, and said "welcome home".  When the price was paid, the Father turned back to His son, and the rest of Isaiah says....

7 "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
    but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
8 In a surge of anger
    I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
    I will have compassion on you,"
    says the Lord your Redeemer.

9 "To me this is like the days of Noah,
    when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth.
So now I have sworn not to be angry with you,
    never to rebuke you again.
10 Though the mountains be shaken
    and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
    nor my covenant of peace be removed,"
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

And now, in the new covenant (this covenant of peace and grace), the Word says in  1 John 4:17 "By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world."

As Jesus is, so are we in this world. He is gloriously together with the Father, so are we. He is perfect and beautiful and wondrous to behold!!!  So are we, in this world.

The Father doesn't hide His face towards us anymore! In the old testament, it felt like God hid His face to His people because they were under the old covenant of the law (the law reveals sin, not God). But now that we are under the covenant of grace, Jesus clearly demonstrated  the love the Father has for us!!!

The old covenant was just that... old. God fulfilled it with a new and better covenant, Jesus!!!! We disqualify ourselves if we think we can obey the law and have God love us because of what we do. It's in knowing that Jesus paid the price for me and was the perfect sacrifice that lets me know, I'm totally accepted and loved.  I'm God's beloved son, and in me, He is well pleased. NOT because of what I do, but because of WHAT HE DID!!!! Because, just as Jesus is now, so am I in this World.

our Father is not hiding from us anymore, because of the cross, because of Jesus!

I hope that helps!

I posted Ray Prinzing's devotional "When God Hides His Face" as an encouragement for those of us who sometimes "feel" like God is Hiding His Face.  Please note, Ray did quote two very precious, encouraging NT verses...

[se7engames]

Thanks goodreport,

I didn't click on the link until you pointed it out just now. I was trying to reconcile the question that was asked in the devotional "How can I know Him better if I cannot even find Him?"