Why Does God Hide Himself from Christians?
Chapters
0:01:14 Reasons Why God Would Intentionally Hide His Face from Us
7:16 Reasons Why God May Turn His Face Away
7:29 He Does It To Teach Us the Value of His Precious Presence
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Why does God hide himself from believers?
00:00:08.440 | It's a question we have touched on on the podcast,
00:00:11.760 | but we need to address it head on.
00:00:13.900 | We do so today through a question sent to us
00:00:16.640 | from James, a listener in Toledo, Ohio.
00:00:19.340 | Hello, Pastor John, thank you for this podcast.
00:00:22.120 | Way back in APJ 338, you said,
00:00:25.000 | "God sometimes chooses to withdraw from us
00:00:27.800 | "his manifest, experienced, known, tasted,
00:00:32.800 | "sweetness of his presence."
00:00:34.680 | But you also said that God never leaves
00:00:37.280 | or forsakes his people either.
00:00:39.460 | So God never forsakes his people,
00:00:41.720 | but he sometimes withdraws from them
00:00:43.720 | the sweetness of communion with him.
00:00:46.880 | He hides his face, as the psalmist says,
00:00:49.140 | in about a dozen places.
00:00:50.760 | In that episode, you demonstrated conclusively
00:00:53.960 | why this dynamic is equally at work
00:00:56.160 | in the old covenant and the new covenant alike.
00:00:59.960 | At the end of it, you said God has, quote,
00:01:02.140 | "His reasons for doing this," end quote,
00:01:05.080 | but that, quote, "Maybe there would be another time
00:01:07.200 | "for us to talk about that," end quote.
00:01:09.000 | That was eight years ago.
00:01:10.920 | I don't know that you have addressed it since.
00:01:13.000 | Can you now explain some of the reasons
00:01:15.720 | why God would intentionally hide his face from us?
00:01:20.200 | - So important.
00:01:21.600 | Let me repeat the very, very crucial,
00:01:26.600 | central statement that he made.
00:01:29.840 | He said this.
00:01:31.200 | So God never forsakes his people,
00:01:34.720 | but he sometimes withdraws from them
00:01:38.600 | the sweetness of communion with him.
00:01:42.340 | He hides his face, as the psalmist says,
00:01:45.680 | in about a dozen places.
00:01:47.320 | And his question is, why would God do that
00:01:51.600 | to his own children?
00:01:54.120 | But first, let me make the case that he already accepts.
00:01:58.320 | He doesn't need me to make the case,
00:01:59.760 | but my guess is some of our listeners are saying, "Really?"
00:02:04.400 | - Yeah.
00:02:05.320 | - There is evidence in our very songs
00:02:08.680 | that we sing these days
00:02:11.280 | that there's disagreement about this.
00:02:13.280 | For example, Edward Mote wrote this great hymn
00:02:18.000 | that most of us would recognize 150 years ago.
00:02:22.400 | ♪ My hope is built on nothing less ♪
00:02:26.560 | ♪ Than Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪
00:02:28.360 | ♪ I dare not trust the sweetest frame ♪
00:02:30.680 | ♪ But wholly lean on Jesus' name ♪
00:02:32.800 | ♪ When darkness veils his lovely face ♪
00:02:37.240 | ♪ I rest on his unchanging grace ♪
00:02:40.880 | Okay, that's what he wrote.
00:02:42.280 | When darkness veils his lovely face.
00:02:45.400 | Then about a decade ago, a group, I won't name them,
00:02:48.560 | adapted this hymn, and we sing it now,
00:02:50.600 | I think under the title Cornerstone,
00:02:52.440 | and it goes like this.
00:02:53.760 | ♪ My hope is built on nothing less ♪
00:02:55.880 | ♪ Than Jesus' blood and righteousness ♪
00:02:57.480 | ♪ I dare not trust the sweetest frame ♪
00:02:59.320 | ♪ But wholly trust in Jesus' name ♪
00:03:01.440 | ♪ When darkness seems to hide his face ♪
00:03:06.000 | ♪ I rest on his unchanging grace ♪
00:03:08.400 | So Edward Mote, who wrote the hymn,
00:03:11.140 | wrote when darkness veils, really veils, his lovely face,
00:03:16.140 | and the group thought they could improve on that
00:03:20.000 | and do better, and they say, no, actually,
00:03:22.720 | we're gonna sing when darkness seems to hide his face,
00:03:27.480 | as if it doesn't really happen.
00:03:29.420 | Well, there's disagreement.
00:03:32.200 | (both laughing)
00:03:34.600 | That's the least you can say.
00:03:36.920 | There's disagreement about that.
00:03:39.360 | And why would that be?
00:03:43.320 | My guess is that those who think darkness
00:03:46.380 | really doesn't hide his face,
00:03:49.600 | but only seems to hide his face,
00:03:52.360 | would probably also reject William Cooper's verse
00:03:56.880 | in his great hymn, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way,"
00:03:59.360 | one of my favorite hymns.
00:04:00.960 | Here's what he wrote.
00:04:02.620 | ♪ Judge not the Lord by feeble sense ♪
00:04:05.700 | ♪ But trust him for his grace ♪
00:04:08.240 | Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face.
00:04:13.240 | Now, Cooper not only says that darkness hides God's face,
00:04:20.640 | but that God hides God's face.
00:04:26.840 | Behind a frowning providence, he, God, hides a smiling face,
00:04:31.840 | which is what the question is.
00:04:34.680 | Why would God do that?
00:04:36.640 | And I think Cooper's understanding is right
00:04:41.200 | in the way God relates to his people.
00:04:44.440 | God is never wrathful toward his forgiven,
00:04:49.440 | justified, redeemed, loved, secure children.
00:04:55.800 | Christ has absorbed all of God's wrath,
00:05:00.880 | and we have passed out of death into life.
00:05:04.260 | We have moved beyond judgment
00:05:07.520 | because the death of Christ is our condemnation.
00:05:10.520 | We don't bear it anymore.
00:05:12.600 | We have been transferred into the kingdom
00:05:14.720 | of his beloved son.
00:05:16.080 | Therefore, God delights in us
00:05:19.680 | as his justified, forgiven children.
00:05:22.840 | But that delight does not exclude disapproval
00:05:27.840 | of behaviors and attitudes
00:05:32.520 | which don't reflect the glory of the Father
00:05:35.380 | in his children,
00:05:36.840 | and it doesn't exclude discipline of his children.
00:05:40.460 | So the Proverbs says, this is Proverbs 3:12,
00:05:43.720 | "The Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father,
00:05:48.720 | the son in whom he delights."
00:05:54.180 | That's amazing.
00:05:55.720 | We reprove the very son in whom we delight,
00:06:01.100 | and in the New Testament, Hebrews,
00:06:03.220 | the book of Hebrews quotes that very proverb
00:06:07.860 | in reference to the suffering of Christians and says,
00:06:11.780 | "Have you forgotten the exhortation
00:06:13.960 | that addresses you as sons?
00:06:16.420 | My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
00:06:20.060 | nor be weary when reproved by him,
00:06:22.560 | for the Lord disciplines the one he loves
00:06:25.660 | and chastises every son whom he receives."
00:06:30.040 | And that discipline sometimes includes seasons
00:06:35.040 | of spiritual darkness when God turns his face away.
00:06:41.380 | For example, turns his face away from answering our prayer.
00:06:46.860 | Like James 4:3, "You ask and do not receive
00:06:51.860 | because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions."
00:06:55.780 | In other words, I'm looking away from that prayer.
00:06:58.180 | Your attitude and your motives are so corrupt.
00:07:01.780 | I'm looking away from that sinful request.
00:07:06.780 | And that may feel like darkness.
00:07:09.020 | That may feel like a season of darkness
00:07:11.280 | 'cause it is when his face turns away, there's a cloud.
00:07:15.420 | So let me give three reasons why God may turn his face away
00:07:20.420 | from time to time and give us over to seasons of perplexity,
00:07:26.860 | confusion, darkness, number one.
00:07:29.800 | He does it to teach us the value of his precious presence
00:07:34.060 | by withdrawing it for a season.
00:07:36.340 | Ephesians 1:18, Paul prays for the Ephesians
00:07:39.300 | that the eyes of their hearts
00:07:42.140 | would be enlightened to know God.
00:07:45.880 | He's praying for Christians.
00:07:49.380 | He's praying for Christians because the brightness
00:07:53.220 | and the light of God's preciousness is not always as clear
00:07:58.220 | as it should be or as we want it to be.
00:08:01.940 | So he asks that we would know God as we ought to know God.
00:08:06.940 | Know the sight of his face as we ought to know the sight
00:08:13.760 | with the eyes of the heart of his face.
00:08:17.000 | And fresh glimpses of the worth and beauty
00:08:21.140 | and greatness of God would be given to us
00:08:25.180 | and that we would cherish him more
00:08:27.900 | because of having lost sight for a season.
00:08:32.780 | That's number one.
00:08:34.060 | Number two, to teach us our own weakness
00:08:38.620 | in holding fast to Christ
00:08:42.580 | and keeping a clear view of his face,
00:08:45.900 | our weakness to keep a clear view of his face
00:08:49.220 | so that we are humbled and made to realize
00:08:52.900 | how utterly dependent we are on God
00:08:55.060 | to keep his face before our heart's eyes.
00:08:58.340 | That's why Paul's praying.
00:08:59.480 | It's God's doing.
00:09:01.380 | At the end of the book of Jude,
00:09:03.220 | he only has one chapter, verses 24 and 25,
00:09:06.740 | he soars, Jude soars
00:09:09.980 | with the most beautiful doxology in the Bible.
00:09:13.640 | And all of it is because of how amazed he is
00:09:17.140 | that God and God alone can keep us from stumbling
00:09:21.500 | and present us before God's face, God's glorious face.
00:09:26.500 | So I think from time to time,
00:09:28.960 | he allows us to slip into darkness
00:09:31.980 | so that we realize how desperately dependent we are
00:09:35.540 | for seeing him on his grace,
00:09:39.020 | which Jude so powerfully celebrates.
00:09:42.420 | And then finally, number three,
00:09:45.380 | I think he does this to remind us
00:09:48.300 | what it was like to be lost without Christ.
00:09:53.300 | In Ephesians 2.12, Paul commands us,
00:09:57.220 | "Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ."
00:10:02.220 | He never wants us to forget what a wonder it is
00:10:09.420 | that God has revealed his beautiful face to us,
00:10:13.900 | removed separation, stepped in, lifted the veil,
00:10:17.780 | made his face bright to us in the gospel.
00:10:21.420 | So from time to time,
00:10:24.180 | he allows us to taste that former darkness
00:10:28.860 | so that we will come trembling back to the word
00:10:32.800 | and prayer and the cross and lay hold on God in a fresh way
00:10:37.540 | and love our salvation more than ever.
00:10:41.860 | So my prayer for all of you,
00:10:44.600 | all our friends who listen to these programs
00:10:47.700 | is that when you walk through such a season,
00:10:51.820 | you would do what Isaiah 50.10 says,
00:10:56.240 | "Let him who walks in darkness and has no light
00:10:59.500 | trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God."
00:11:04.460 | Because as Hosea 6.3 says,
00:11:08.340 | "His going out is sure as the dawn.
00:11:12.140 | He will come to us as the showers,
00:11:15.140 | as the spring rains that water the earth."
00:11:19.300 | - So good.
00:11:20.140 | Isaiah is super helpful and important here.
00:11:22.620 | I'd also throw into the mix Isaiah 8.17, which reads,
00:11:26.940 | "I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face."
00:11:31.100 | And then he says in him, "I will hope."
00:11:36.580 | The God who hides himself from us
00:11:38.900 | is the same God we hope in.
00:11:42.340 | We've got to get that right.
00:11:43.300 | It's important.
00:11:44.140 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:11:44.980 | And thank you for joining us today.
00:11:47.300 | You can ask a question of your own,
00:11:48.980 | search our growing archive,
00:11:50.100 | or subscribe to the podcast,
00:11:51.440 | all at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:11:55.580 | One of the themes we address on the podcast is retirement
00:11:59.820 | and how to not waste it.
00:12:01.820 | We've talked about end of life decisions too,
00:12:04.060 | but we've spent very little time talking about
00:12:06.460 | inheritances and wills and things like that.
00:12:10.180 | We will do so next time.
00:12:11.740 | I'm your host Tony Reinke,
00:12:12.900 | and we'll see you back here on Monday for that.
00:12:15.340 | Have a great weekend.
00:12:16.380 | (upbeat music)
00:12:18.960 | (upbeat music)
00:12:21.540 | [BLANK_AUDIO]