The
God Who Hides Himself
One
of the most gracious things God does is to reveal Himself to human
beings. The heavens above reveal the glory of God and the sky above
shows His creative power. “For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even
his
eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.”
Romans
1:20 Everyone
knows that God exists because of what He has created. That's called
“General Revelation.” But God in His grace gave us details about
His attributes, His character, and His purposes in life by means of
words.
God spoke words! Jesus
said,
“Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew
4:4
How
thankful we are that “the word of the Lord” came to [the
prophets] in ancient times so that we have God's verbal revelation in
scripture. And in the incarnation of Christ when God became Man, He
spoke even more clearly. “Long
ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the
prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom
he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the
world.” Heb.
1:1-2
How wonderful it is that we have the written revelation of God in
narrative, in poetry and song, and in propositional truth. And
especially we are thankful for the revelation of God in Christ who
came not only to redeem and save us, but to show us what God is
like. “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the
Father’s side, he has made him known.” John
1:18 ESV
What
is this, then, about God hiding Himself??
Well, that's what scripture says: “Truly,
you are a God who hides
himself, O God of
Israel, the Savior.” Isaiah
45:15 ESV 3000
years ago the Psalmist had a similar lament, “Why,
O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide
yourself in
times of trouble?” Psalm 10:1 ESV
There's
more to this question than appears immediately on the surface. One
of the reasons God “hides” from man—but only one of several
reasons—is His hiding when man “regards iniquity in his heart.”
Then the Lord will not hear. “If
I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have
listened.” Psalm
66:18 (ESV)
That's the picture given in Isaiah earlier in the book where God
is hiding Himself because of man's sin and refuses to listen to him.
God is speaking and tells His people, “ . . .
When
you spread out your hands, I will hide
my
eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.”
Isa. 1:14-20 ESV
There's
more!
God hides Himself from those who are not willing to listen, but He
also hides the understanding of the truth from those who seek to come
to God arrogantly and in pride and self-sufficiency. Jesus thanked
God for that. He prayed, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and
understanding and revealed them to little children.” Mt.
11:25 ESV God
humbles the proud and gives grace to the humble.
And
later in His ministry, quoting the Old Testament, Jesus answered the
critics, “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and
nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” Matthew
21:16 ESV He
was quoting, Psalm 8:2, “Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes, to still the
enemy and the avenger.”
Scripture
tells of a third
type of the
“hidden God” and
that is in the mystery, either undisclosed or undisclosable answers
to our questions and curiosity. Isaiah speaks of them, too, in 48:6
“From
this time forth I announce to you new things, hidden
things that
you have not known.” The Apostle Paul spoke of “the
mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his
saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles
are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory.” Col.
1:26-27
Mystery
in the New Testament means “that which, being outside the range of
unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by Divine
revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by
God, and to those only who are illumined by His Spirit.” Vines,
p. 769
We are privileged to live “this side of the cross” and after the
resurrection of Jesus so much more has been revealed than in Old
Testament times. But there is still much that we don't know. We will
never fully understand the infinite God, but we do have substantial
knowledge that is growing and increasing by God's mercy and
illumination.
We thank Him for what is seen and trust Him for what is unseen.
Jesus
spoke to the disciples in parables and told them, “It is given unto
you to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” Mt. 13:11
When
Jesus asked Peter, “Who do you say that I am,” and Peter replied
with such profound understanding, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of
the living God,” Jesus told him,
“Blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed
it
unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven.” Mt.
16:15-17
Some
things are not given unto us to know. Jesus explicitly said those
words to the disciples: “It
is
not for you to know
the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own
power.” Acts
1:7 Be
thankful for what is not
hidden from us. For example:
”We
know
that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the
brothers.” 1
Jn. 3:14
“We know
that
when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”
1
Jn. 3:2
“And
we know
that
all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who
are the called according to His
purpose.” Romans
8:28
“The
hidden
things
belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed
things
belong to us and our children forever. . . .” Deut.29:29
HCSB Thank
Him for what is revealed and trust Him for what is hidden.
