WHEN GOD HIDES HIS FACE

“For a small moment have I forsaken you;

but with great mercies will I gather you.

In a little wrath, I hid My face from you for a moment;

but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you,

says the Lord your Redeemer.”

Isaiah 54:7-8

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 has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. 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 cited, but these two are sufficient to emphasize the fact that He is with us; He always will be with us and in no way will ever fail us, or forsake us.

How then do we harmonize these verses with the passage used for our opening scripture, that for a small moment He had hidden His face from us? It is no contradiction, yet it does remain for us to rightly divide the Word of Truth, and to discern the various dimensions and realms of His in-workings, 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 would ope.

“Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him: on the left hand, where He does work, but I cannot behold Him: He hides Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him: but He knows the way that I take and when He has 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.

From Daily Overcoming