Thursday

Related Verses
Isa. 45:15
15 Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.

1 Kings 19:12
12 And after the earthquake, a fire – Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire, a gentle, quiet voice.

John 20:14-17, 24-29
14 When she said these things, she turned backward and beheld Jesus standing there, yet she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? She, supposing that He was the gardener, said to Him, Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.
16 Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, Rabboni! (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25 The other disciples therefore said to him, We have seen the Lord! But he said to them, Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails and put my finger into the mark of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will by no means believe.
26 And after eight days, His disciples were again within, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, though the doors were shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be to you.
27 Then He said to Thomas, Bring your finger here and see My hands, and bring your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.
28 Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God!
29 Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.

Related Reading
[God’s children] know Him as the almighty One, as the righteous One, as One full of grace and compassion, but as the One who hides Himself, He is unknown to them.

[Isaiah’s statement in Isaiah 45:15] is most emphatic. He is not talking empty words, the fruit of his own imagination; his utterance is based on an accumulation of facts. He has looked at those facts, he has studied those facts, and then he has come to his conclusion: “You are a God who hides Himself, / O God.” What he has seen of God’s doings, what he has observed happen to Israel under the hand of God, what he has beheld of the experiences of God’s people—all these observations have forced the prophet to acknowledge that God is a God who hides Himself. Why did Isaiah come to this conclusion?…It was because God did countless things in the midst of the children of Israel and countless things in their personal lives, yet He concealed Himself. He was ceaselessly working, yet He was always hidden. Very much was being done by Him, yet the Israelites were utterly ignorant as to who the doer was. Then one day Isaiah exclaimed, “Surely You are a God who hides Himself, / O God.” (CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, “A God Who Hides Himself,” p. 3)

—

Our personalities are diametrically opposed to God’s personality. He likes concealment; we like display. He does not crave outward manifestations; we cannot be content without them.

“Elijah was a man of like feeling with us” (James 5:17), and he did not stand this test. On Mount Carmel God was obviously with him, but when God withheld His manifest presence, Elijah could not bear it. He became depressed and crept into a cave. When God asked him, “What are you doing here?” he answered, “I have been very jealous for Jehovah the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life” (1 Kings 19:9-10). God knew Elijah’s difficulty; He knew Elijah wanted Him to be a God who would manifest Himself; he had not realized that God is a God who hides Himself. So God gave him a demonstration. There arose “a great, strong wind” (v. 11). Elijah thought, The Lord is in this. But “Jehovah was not in the wind” (v. 11). The wind was followed by an earthquake. Elijah thought, Surely the Lord is in this. But “Jehovah was not in the earthquake” (v. 11). Then came a fire, and Elijah thought, The Lord is a consuming fire; He will be in this. But “Jehovah was not in the fire” (v. 12). After the fire came a gentle, quiet voice—and the Lord was in that (v. 12). Elijah said to Him, “I alone am left” (v. 14), but the Lord very gently answered, “There are seven thousand persons who have not bowed down to Baal. Elijah, I hide Myself; you did not know that I had preserved those seven thousand souls” (cf. v. 18). Elijah had reckoned only with what he could see, but God is a God who hides Himself…He had preserved for Himself seven thousand persons who had not bowed the knee to Baal, but so hidden was His activity that not even the prophet Elijah knew anything about it.

If you study the Scriptures carefully, you will see that God has the kind of temperament that dislikes ostentation. He likes to work secretly rather than openly. He created the universe and then hid Himself in it, until we do not know where to find Him. He took up His abode in a man, but…even His disciples, during their three and a half years in His company, did not arrive at a true knowledge of Him. All this tells us that He was continually hiding Himself. He would manifest Himself for a moment and then would conceal Himself again. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, “A God Who Hides Himself,” pp. 3-4, 6-7)

Further Reading: A God Who Hides Himself (booklet)