The Hidden God

One of the profound contributions of Martin Luther to the Christian faith was his reminder that God remains hidden even in the disasters of this life. The prophet wrote to the exiled tribes of Judah about this God. They had been complaining and bemoaning their lot in life, wishing God had never created them. He warns them not to quarrel with their Maker, suggesting He does not know what He is doing. For the moment they may not realize that in everything He is at work, most especially for the sake of His chosen children.

Then the prophet turns from the people to pray,

Truly you are a God who hides himself,
O God and Savior of Israel," Isaiah 45:15.

The people must be aware that in the political events of that day a new thing was happening. A new power was arising. Cyrus II, the Great , the founder and ruler of the vast Persian Empire from 539 B.C. until his death in 530 B.C., defeated the Median king, Astyages and took Ecbatana. He expanded his kingdom further by defeating Croesus, king of Lydia in 546 BC, and then conquering Babylon in 539 BC overthrowing Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. Thus the Persian Empire was formed and the seventy year captivity of the Jews ended.

Even before these events came to pass, Isaiah told the captives they must believe that the Lord's hand was with Cyrus. They must trust the God who had gathered them together. He had allowed them to suffer. He would now see that they return home. For that moment, they must walk by faith, even though they did not see what their loving and merciful Lord was doing.

In 1985-86, the year I turned 52, both of my parents died within six months of one another, my father from congestive heart disease and my mother from complications of Alzheimer's. This had a profound effect upon my life, but my feelings of loss and being orphaned were further exacerbated by attacks upon my integrity and leadership in the congregation I served. Looking back, I see that the folks behind these attacks were acting out the anxiety they felt from the economic woes we were all experiencing in those days. I won't detail that. What I refer to instead is the fact that my entire career, my feelings about my life, my marriage and my future were in the tank! It was a deep, dark and dismal time.

What nurtured me in those days was the Word of promise I had from our Lord. Even when He seems hidden, we press on, trusting in His love for us all. Even in such testings, He beckons us to follow. Our Lord Jesus bore the full import of being orphaned and forsaken by His Father as He cried upon the Cross, quoting the despair of Psalm 22, "Why have You forsaken Me?"

In these days, I keep running into people whose lives are threatened with despair and doubt as they face the trials of our lagging economy. Once again we are tempted to cry out for God to reveal Himself. Is He really at work in these dark times? If so, where?

Turning back to Isaiah, we claim the promise and the hope. In that hope we rise again to fight on.



I quote from the 19th century unspoken sermons of George MacDonald. In the one about Life, he quoted the old Ballad of Andrew Barton:

"Ffight on my men," sayes Sir Andrew Barton,
"I arm hurt, but I am not slaine;
I'le lay mee downe and bleed a-while,
And then I'le rise and ffight againe.

We are able to rise again when we believe what MacDonald wrote, "If we will but let our God and Father work his will with us, there can be no limit to his enlargement of our existence, to the flood of life with which he will overflow our consciousness."

In the darkness a light still shines. We have but to walk toward it. That is the way, for our God is truly a loving Father. We see that upon the cross, even as dark as that day appeared. We are not forsaken.