The God who works behind the scenes
Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior! Isaiah 45:15
One reason God hides Himself at times is to allow us to grow in faith as we trust Him and His Word without any sensory input at all.
Another reason God may hide Himself for a season from you and me has to do with the way He works out His purposes—both in our own lives and in the lives of others. The Message Bible says it this way: “Clearly, you are a God who works behind the scenes, God of Israel, Savior God.”
You may wonder why the Lord would do such a thing. You may even cite the verse in Genesis which says, “The LORD said, ‘Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?’” (Genesis 18:17.) You might think, Of course God wants to reveal Himself to me—doesn’t He?
Yes, God will teach you concerning Himself, He will show you by the Holy Spirit things to come (see John 16:13), and He will be a Friend who reveals secrets to you just as He did with Abraham. However, like a seed sprouting in darkness, hidden below the ground, forming roots and all that it will need to bear fruit once it breaks through the earth, the mysteries of your life and future often need to remain underground for a while, developing a strong root system and support structure, hidden away from both your eyes and impatient curiosity. If God is hidden to you, you can rest assured that He is nonetheless at work on your behalf, forming the structures of His will and purpose for the details of your life.
Take courage in the fact that the Lord is actively working on your behalf, especially when He seems hidden!
Dorothy
“Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God. Isaiah 66:9
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
…He knows the way I take; when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10
Read MoreThe God who hides Himself
Truly, You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior! Isaiah 45:15
Have you ever felt as if God was absent from your life? I’m not talking about before you received Jesus as Lord of your life; I’m talking about since you’ve given your life to Him.
Let me share something that may help you—you’re not alone in this feeling. Sometimes the Living God withdraws—not His presence from your life—but the experience of His presence.
Why would He do such a thing to one of His children who so desperately longs for a touch from Him? Very possibly, one reason He does this is because we insist on “feeling” or “sensing” Him before we are willing to trust Him; we are determined to experience Him before we step out on the water by faith.
You might exclaim, But He told us He would provide all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:19), and I need Him to give me a touch, a feeling, an experience!
Your need, however, is not to feel or experience right now or God would have provided that for you. Your need at this crucial time in your life is to trust, believe, and obey without any sense of God’s presence at all. And as you choose to trust Him despite what seems to be the lack of a touch; as you choose to believe Him without any feeling of His presence; and as you take a step of obedience without any evident “Atta boy” from Heaven, you are—without a doubt—being watched, upheld, and supported by the Most High Himself.
God hides Himself from you at times to prompt you to lean on Him by faith alone—and to grow in your faith. If you’re going through a season in which He seems to be hidden from you, He is, nonetheless, very present in your life. He has not abandoned you, nor will He—ever.
Dorothy
…He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] Hebrews 13:5b, AMP
…for we walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7
Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” John 20:29
Read MoreKindness observed
My church will be launching into its annual vacation Bible school today. There will be a four-day session each week for the next two weeks for kids—from teensy-tiny to eighth grade—and it will be jam-packed with amazing kid-things to do and outstanding Bible drama and worship every day.
I’ve volunteered in this event for several years. My job for the past couple of years has been to check kids out of their cars in the morning and help to make sure they made it to their various groups safely.
This is what I wrote about my experience at my church’s kids’ camp a couple of years ago:
I just finished working with my church’s vacation Bible school this week. Now, I’m not in the state of Texas, but my church may as well be! Almost everything it does is BIG, especially this summer outreach to kids. My job was to help direct traffic as parents dropped off their children, aiding as kids hopped out of vehicles, and directing them to “walkers”—individuals from age fifteen to eighty—who walked them to the crosswalk and then to their stations.
As I participated in this massive movement of munchkins, I was very aware of the friendliness of the volunteers serving all around me. Kind words, gentle humor, and great encouragement filled the atmosphere as hundreds—no, literally thousands—of kids said goodbye to their parents and hello to the fun-filled environment awaiting them.
And I observed parents in their cars, vans, SUVs, pickup trucks, and jeeps respond to the thoughtful smiles, waves, and well-wishes just as much as their children. I watched, in more than one case, tension just drain away from a frazzled mom when a volunteer acknowledged her with a smile and a parting word of encouragement.
And I thought, “This is how we are to operate every day.”
- Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person. Colossians 4:5-6
- Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Philippians 4:5
Despite the chaos swirling in the world, we can walk in confidence that our God is on the throne. And we can also know for a fact that He longs to show forth His love and stability through us as we engage more and more consistently in everyday random acts of kindness.
If your church is holding a VBS this summer—or you know of others that are—pray for those events. The adults and teens volunteering their time could use your prayers for strength, grace, stamina, and wisdom from God as they reach out to boys and girls and younger teens who may have never clearly heard the gospel before in their lives. Pray that God will prepare the hearts of these kids for an encounter with Him.
May the hand of God be upon every church campus involved this summer in presenting the gospel to our youngest generation.
Dorothy
Read MoreThe Rejected Stone is the greatest Rock of all
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Matthew 21:42, NIV
Memorial stones. Joshua commanded one man from each of twelve tribes to haul a large stone from the bottom of the Jordan River to erect a memorial to the Lord’s mighty power (see Joshua 3). As the Israelites gazed upon that stone pile, they would remember throughout their generations the great river-parting deed of God.
Wednesday and Thursday this week, we took a look at two types of memorial stones:
The Word. You, too, are called to gaze upon memorial stones in your life. The Bible is packed with living stones of life and power—as you meditate upon the words within it, “They are life to those who find them and health to all their body” (see Proverbs 4:22). See Using Scripture as memorial stones.
Your own testimonies. As you recall the wonderful interventions of the Lord in your own life, you are submitting to God and resisting the devil. This extremely effective method of overcoming the enemy is revealed in Revelation 12:11. “And they overcame him [the devil] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death”. See Personal victories as memorial stones.
But the most important Memorial Stone of all existed before time began:
The Rock: The Stone which the builders rejected. The Rock has been lauded since the time of Moses. He sang of this Rock, “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4). The Rock came to earth as a Stone in the fullness of time, and He was rejected. Nonetheless, this Stone became the chief cornerstone of the New Covenant between God and man. The Stone was lifted high on a cross; He foretold of this event as He explained to His followers, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). The serpent to which he referred was an image of bronze lifted high on a pole; whoever looked on that metal serpent—although bitten by one of the very real venomous snakes invading their camp—would be healed immediately (see Numbers 21:9). And you, as you gaze on the Rock—that Stone which the builders rejected—you, too, receive abundantly of His Life.
The Stone Himself, before His death, commanded His disciples to memorialize His mighty life and His death-defeating sacrifice. He said to them as they shared the Passover feast, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me” (see Luke 22:19). With that, He instituted a new memorial stone—to remember Him throughout the centuries to come—believers of all generations partaking of the bread and the cup.
Jesus—the Stone which the builders rejected—is the Chief Cornerstone and the Chief Memorial Stone. Gaze on Him. Meditate on His mighty Life, His sacrificial death, His victorious resurrection. Let Him cleanse your life with His redeeming blood and fill your heart with His unwavering peace. In this way, your life—however tough, bleak, or uninspiring it may be—will be transformed by His life, His grace, and His abiding presence.
Dorothy
Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30
© 2015 Dorothy Frick
Read MorePersonal victories as memorial stones
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14
More than once I’ve arrived at a point in my life in which everything seemed to be falling apart or spinning out of control. More than a few times I have felt the dull leaden mantle of oppression or defeat clamp down on me like a coffin. And many of those times, I was absolutely on my own or surrounded by those who knew little and cared less about spiritual warfare—or me.
Joyce Meyer has said that at times such as those, you and I have a choice to make—to get bitter or get better. There is no in-between.
Even if you are surrounded by a loving family or friends who care as deeply about you as they do their own kin, when it comes to your own attitudinal choices, as President Harry S Truman said, “The buck stops here”—with you. There’s no getting around it. Whether you grab onto victory or not doesn’t depend upon your pastor, your spouse (or lack thereof), or whoever else you may know. Your victory hinges upon two relationships only—the one you have with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the one you have with yourself.
I had never heard of memorial stones, and I knew very little about encouraging myself in the Lord, so I stumbled upon this quite by accident. It happened sometime in my thirties when I had been under a prolonged assault against my joy. I was getting tired of fighting. Like one preacher said, I had rebuked the devil until my rebuker was sore, but I wasn’t ready to wave the white flag of surrender, either. In my exhaustion, I did something different—something just to get my mind off of the attack.
I started talking out loud to the Lord about how I got saved. I went into detail, telling it to Him as if He didn’t know the story. And then I told Him about my water baptism and how He filled me with the Holy Ghost. I told Him about the various people I’d witnessed to; I told Him some of my tales of miraculous deliverance; I told Him how He led me by His Spirit to find my first apartment, and how He had opened the door for me to my different jobs.
You probably know what happened next. Instead of merely diverting my attention away from the attack momentarily, the last thing I ever expected transpired. I felt strength and life from God pour into my heart, my mind, and my body. The lid blew off of that depression, and when it did, the entire mummifying encasement constricting me flew off with it. I was free!
Joshua commanded, “Let this be a sign among you” (Joshua 3:10a). I am challenging you today—especially if you are under some kind of attack—let your past victories and triumphs be a sign to you. Rehearse them—each and every one of them—aloud before God. Tell Him all about them in vivid detail, and believe me—His strength and life will ooze into you and build you up and overpower the forces of darkness that have been attempting to take you captive.
Your victories are just as significant for you as the twelve stones from the riverbed were for Israel. You just need to haul those personal memorial stones up and out of the river bottom of your memory and memorialize them by retelling them and marveling before God at His wonderful intervention for you.
I believe that as you practice rehearsing and gazing at your own personal triumphs, the effect on your attitude and life will be far more profound than the best anti-depressants money can buy.
Psalm 37:3b states, “…dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness” (NKJV). What better way to feed on His faithfulness than by recalling His amazing tales of faithfulness to you?
What are you waiting for? Go to that river and pull out your memorial stones!
Dorothy
This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. Lamentations 3:21-22
© 2015 Dorothy Frick
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