Does God hide Himself?

The short answer is yes. Yes, He does.

Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior! (Isaiah 45:15, NASB95)

O Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? (Psalm 88:14, NASB95)

Some may find the idea that God would hide Himself from His own people disturbing. Some Christians have sadly experienced painful abandonment in the natural world, and so it seems unthinkable that, having finally found such a wonderful, loving, and faithful heavenly Father, He, too, would hide Himself from them. So, it is vital that I make this point clear: Hiddenness is not the same as abandonment.

Hiddenness vs. Abandonment

In Romans 1:20, Paul tells us that God has revealed His invisible attributes in all that He has made so that man has no excuse for not believing in Him. In this regard, it sounds fairly obvious to me that God has not hidden Himself from humanity but has gone out of His way to make Himself visible. That was His starting position: to not hide Himself but to be seen. And, of course, He also made Himself known to us in the person of Jesus Christ, His Son:

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature (Hebrews 1:3, NASB95)

In Deuteronomy 31:6 and 8, God told Joshua that He would never fail or forsake him. Forsake means to abandon or leave. We assume God means the same for each of us. Yet, in Isaiah 54, God says to Israel that because of certain conditions, He hid Himself from her for a little while. He turned His face for a moment; He forsook her.

“For a brief moment I forsook you, But with great compassion I will gather you. “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the Lord your Redeemer.” (Isaiah 54:7–8, NASB95)

In other portions of Scripture, we read that the Lord or, the Spirit of God departed from someone and that God forsook His people, Israel.

She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. (Judges 16:20, NASB95)

Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord terrorized him. (1 Samuel 16:14, NASB95)

You, O Lord, rule forever; Your throne is from generation to generation. Why do You forget us forever? Why do You forsake us so long? Restore us to You, O Lord, that we may be restored; Renew our days as of old, Unless You have utterly rejected us And are exceedingly angry with us. (Lamentations 5:19–22, NASB95)

Famously, King David wrote,

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. (Psalm 22:1–2, NASB95)

We know these words of King David’s were also the words of Jesus, from Matthew 27:46, as He hung on the cross. Most of us would be familiar with the theoretical discussion around whether or not God actually left Jesus at that moment. Some say God had to turn away because Jesus had become sin itself (in order to destroy its power by taking it into the grave), and therefore, Jesus experienced separation from His Father for the first (and only) time. That makes sense to me. Others say, that God could never forsake Jesus because they are One. That also makes sense to me. All we know for sure, is that Jesus said those words.

Where the Bible records that God forsook some, or certain individuals or people groups felt the anguish of being forsaken by Him, this reveals that disobedience, rebellion, sin, and disloyalty to God will possibly cause Him to turn away from us, to be angry with us for a moment, and even potentially depart from us altogether as He did with Saul–all dependent upon us, not upon Him. He gave us the choice of life or death and desires that we choose life, yet He leaves the decision up to us. Still, this warranted forsaking is not the same as hiddenness. When the Father or Jesus hide themselves from us, it is out of love.

The Song of Songs conveys a picture of Jesus as one who, you might say, playfully hides Himself from His church, His bride, as seen in the story of King Solomon and his lover, the Shulamite woman. This playful hiding isn’t in the context of teasing but as a means of drawing her out of her bed to intentionally go looking for him, to find him, and to join him where he is and in what he is doing.

Jesus certainly desires that the church wakes up from her sleeping beauty state and intentionally and actively seeks Him with the desire of joining Him where He is and in what He is doing! Sometimes, Jesus needs to deliberately hide Himself from us to encourage us to move! Otherwise, like the Shulamite woman, we will insist on being with Him only on our terms.

“I was asleep but my heart was awake. A voice! My beloved was knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my darling, My dove, my perfect one! For my head is drenched with dew, My locks with the damp of the night.’ “I have taken off my dress, How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet, How can I dirty them again? “My beloved extended his hand through the opening, And my feelings were aroused for him. “I arose to open to my beloved; And my hands dripped with myrrh, And my fingers with liquid myrrh, On the handles of the bolt. “I opened to my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and had gone! My heart went out to him as he spoke. I searched for him but I did not find him; I called him but he did not answer me.” (Song of Solomon 5:2–6, NASB95)

God will sometimes woo us by hiding Himself, just like King Solomon. Sometimes, He waits until we are lovesick and desperate to be with Him. By hiding Himself, He will test the depth of our devotion before He discloses His wonders and plans to us.

“Come, my beloved, let us go out into the country, Let us spend the night in the villages. “Let us rise early and go to the vineyards; Let us see whether the vine has budded And its blossoms have opened, And whether the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love. “The mandrakes have given forth fragrance; And over our doors are all choice fruits, Both new and old, Which I have saved up for you, my beloved.” (Song of Solomon 7:11–13, NASB95)

Why does anyone hide themselves? When somebody hides, it is because they are up to something, and they don’t want you to see what they’re up to!

When Jesus hung on the cross, we know that, at the very least, Jesus felt like God had forsaken Him. We also know that God was up to something incredible behind the scenes. And this work of the crucifixion of His Son, of Jesus’ death and burial and going into Hades and taking the keys, and then rising again from the dead, was all part of God’s master plan devised from eternity past. What’s more, it was a plan hidden from the satanic realm! God may have turned His face from Jesus for a moment, we’re not certain, but He was also hiding and was definitely up to something!

God hides from His children whom He loves, and who love Him. He hides from those who belong to Him, and He does this for His own purpose to be fulfilled in them. That’s us. This can be painful, disconcerting and worrying. When God hides Himself, we often feel confused and helpless. In fact, we are utterly helpless to change the situation, we simply have to wait for His return. But while we wait, what do we do? We must remain faithful. We must keep turning up. We must live every day by faith, not by sight or by feelings. We must appropriate what we know is true. We must not forget in the dark what we saw the light.

This difficult time will test and prove us. The Lord wants us to become lovesick for Him. He wants to prove our loyalty and devotion so that we can share in His plans and blessings, which is the wonder of being with Him, just as it was the reward for the Shulamite woman to be with her King Solomon. But she had to get off her bed to go after him. She could no longer just lie there passively. Things had changed, she had to grow up!

And King Solomon was definitely up to something! He was calling her to his plan and purpose! King Solomon was wanting to head out to the country, be in the villages, check on his precious vineyards, as to whether the vine had budded, and its blossoms opened, and whether the pomegranates had bloomed. He wanted to see if there were signs of life, and he wanted his lover to be part of this adventure.

“The mandrakes have given forth fragrance; And over our doors are all choice fruits, Both new and old, Which I have saved up for you, my beloved.” (Song of Solomon 7:13, NASB95)

It was all about life and fruitfulness. And that’s the very same reason the Lord hides from us at different times in our Christian journey; for the sake of life and fruitfulness.

The greatest fruit came forth when God did something amazing behind the scenes, hidden from everyone’s view, including the eyes of the satanic realm and even hidden from His Son in His humanity as He hung on the cross asking, ‘Why?’ Out from that moment, came the restoration of God’s eternal plan and the birth of the church – life and fruit!

We sometimes feel like God has forsaken us. We feel abandoned. We feel He has left. But I don’t believe He has left, anymore than God had really left His Son, or King Solomon had really left his lover. Reading Song of Songs, one gets the impression that he was somehow watching her journey, ‘looking in through the lattice’. Even though he had hidden himself, he was very much there. And that’s how it is for us. The Lord hides Himself in order to wake us up, call us out, to see if love for Him will arouse within to the point that we will leave all else behind to run after Him and join Him in His passions for life and fruit. The life and fruit of His own vineyard, His own kingdom that He wants to share with us who are His beloved–His life, His fruit.

Romans 8:38 tells us this:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Although God may hide Himself for purposes known only to Him at that time, we are never out of His sight. God is omnipresent but has also taken up residency in the spirits of those who belong to Him. We cannot escape Him. In fact, even when we feel God is hiding Himself, He is closer than we think. Just like if you hold an object as close to your eyes as possible, so that it touches your eyelashes, you can see there is an object there but you really can’t see what it is because it is just too close. That’s how it is with God. Sometimes, He is so close we can’t see Him, but we can be assured that He is there. Perhaps that describes Jesus’ experience on the cross?

As the psalmist says,

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. (Psalm 139:7–10, NASB95)

Unless we ourselves have departed from Him, He will not depart from us. And even if that is the case, if we return to Him, He will be there to receive us, just as we read earlier:

“In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the Lord your Redeemer. (Isaiah 54:7–8, NASB95)

Over and over, throughout the Scriptures, God says to His faithful ones, ‘I am with you’. If we choose to live a life of continual repentance, to be faithful to Him, not to rebel against and desert God, He will never forsake us, though He may hide for a little while in order to produce more life and fruit in our lives. If He does hide Himself for a time, we can be confident that He is still there, but He’s up to something–something good!

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. (Deuteronomy 31:8)

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. (Joshua 1:5)

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. (Genesis 28:15)

For the Lord will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage (Psalm 94:14)

Then David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished. (1 Chronicles 28:20)

The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us (1 Kings 8:57)

Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)