God in the Dark
“Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden and whom God has hedged in?” Job 3:23 NASB
Hidden – We all want to know what’s really happening. Too bad life doesn’t tell us. That’s pretty much the summary of real human existence. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Neither do you. No one does. Our paths are hidden. In spite of our delusion that we can plan for the future, the future is as opaque as coal. Great plans often fail, not because they weren’t great but because the tide of time is controlled by no man.
The Hebrew verb sathar is the perfect word for this situation. In this verse, it is passive. That means we receive the action of someone else who is hiding my path from me. That someone else is God. Sathar means preventing someone from knowing or seeing something. Who else could prevent us from seeing the path we so desperately need to know? As Job says, “God hedges us in.” I know I have felt this kind of constraint. Maybe you have too. Maybe we are not so far from Job after all, even if we are not blameless and upright.
Why would God do this? Why would He make it so difficult to know the way? Wouldn’t it be so much easier if God just delivered His daily orders to each of us when we got out of bed? If we are in the King’s army, why is the General so often silent? That’s no way to run the military.
I can think of two acceptable answers. I can think of more unacceptable ones (like God doesn’t care), but they contradict the character of the God of Scripture, so they can’t be correct. The first acceptable answer is this: God protects me by not letting me see where I am going. This might sound paradoxical, but think of it like this. If I wanted my children to grow up with the experience of free choice consequences, of real fulfillment and some sense of self-direction, would I outline for them a full life plan, every corner and curve already in place and then ask them to just follow the bouncing ball? Of course not! I would oversee their decisions, provide good advice and help to shape their thinking, but I would not take away their own choices. Furthermore, I would realize that if I told them everything that would happen to them during a lifetime of choices, they might be unwilling to go forward. The specter of failure, the height of the obstacles and the possibility of injury might dissuade them from even trying. I would protect them by not telling them too much.
That leads directly to the second acceptable answer. Yeshua hinted at the answer when He said, “I have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). Perhaps God hides our path because we are not yet strong enough to bear what He would love to reveal. Growth takes time – sometimes a long time. Consider Abraham. One hundred years before the mast summarizes his life (to borrow a Herman Melville metaphor). Then he saw the path. Then he knew. But until he reached the place of Moriah, he could not bear what God would reveal.
Where are we today? Are we sulking in unacceptable answers, answers that challenge the character of God? Or do we assume God is protecting us even in our discomfort with the unknown? Or are we still too weak to bear it?
Topical Index: hidden, sathar, John 16:12, Job 3:23
One day, -we will know, for G-d’s book prophecies and promises, “they shall all know me..” Is that in the Bible? Yes, my friends..-“it is written.” Hallelu Yah, “it is written,”- we will know the LORD. “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Remember the “law of first mention?” -from the least to the greatest.
-We are so worried about being the greatest, but what does “from the least to the greatest,” signify? Why doesn’t G-d line us up according as we like it, from the greatest (I’m number one!), to the least? (Back of the line please..) As we look in G-d’s book, we see a repeated pattern.. “from the least to the greatest”. Over and over (and over). “Are these all your sons?” Samuel asked. Well, there’s little (insignificant) David, but we have him “out back” tending the sheep right now.. “Go and bring him here.” -How about mighty Esau?- a “manly” man? No, -“Jacob, have I loved..” There is an inscription, (written in stone too!) that about sums up who our G-d seeks..
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
How I would love to stop and say, (I think I just did!)- “Thank you, LORD for saving me!!” “Oh, to grace, how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be, -let Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee..”
Is is possible for a sinful man (that’s me), to know a G-d who is holy? And the answer is?…- Yes, oh yes!- I am (in the process of) knowing Him. Every day and every hour of every day- I think about Him much, -and friends..- I like it. I like the changes Someone is making in me! lol! – I used to run to sin, and now I run from it. Why? My thought life has changed, my actions have changed, my desires have changed, the people I run with and am attracted to has changed. lol!- there’s been a change in me- and it is continuing! Praise His Name!! His Name is Wonderful!!
So, -is there a Way? (lol!) Yes, very much so.. and His Name is? Now.. who was it who said,- “I AM the Way?” hmmm… -if only I could remember..
Corrie Ten Boom the author of the ‘Hiding Place’ and many other books, tells a story along this subject this morning. She is a little girl taking a trip on a train with her father. She asks a very heavy and difficult question. Her father response is vey beautiful! “Corrie, when we get off this train I want you to pick up that suitcase and carry it off here for me. Corrie responds, “Papa that suitcase is to heavy for me, I can not carry it!” Corrie that is correct, that suitcase is to heavy for you to bear now, the same is with the question that you just asked me. You would not be able to bear the weight of the answer if I told you, but there will be a day when you are old enough to carry the weight of the answer.”
I wish I had the time these days to give real responses to these morning messages. Oh so true that we get in the worst trouble when we eat from the wrong tree.
Avinu never leads us there. He knows quite well what we can bare.
The astonishing thing is how He works with us all individually to bring us to a point of unity and perfection for a single purpose. He is both personal and congregational.
As I begin the process of cleansing the leaven from our house in preparation for Pesach (Passover) this year I’m reminded that the Pesach lamb was slaughtered once for all in a congregational event of salvation from physical death and subsequent misery.
The events of the plagues in Mitzraim (Egypt) didn’t just destroy Egypt. They put the fear of and the trust in YHVH into the children of Israel as well as a mixed multitude, (anyone that would come) in preparation for their exodus. I dare say they may have even forgotten their slavery in view of such terrifying events. But would they ALL have left without them?
Then He chose the indirect path for them because He knew they weren’t read for war.
Ex 13:17 ¶ And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: and the story goes on……………………………
He knows our frame. Surely we are but dust! Sheep must be led carefully. They aren’t as savvy as they would like to think they are. But He knows the path and brings each one out safely. Not one is lost.
What an amazing El! Halleluyah
“I have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:21)
Hmmm
a Herman Melville metaphor
In Billy Budd, clearly the greatest “Christ figure” in American literature
Melville asks the question, if “truth” runs counter to the way of this world
What motivation, if truth ends in tragedy, is there to tell the truth?
In The Last Detail, Jack Nicholson plays a U.S. Navy sailor, Billy Buddusky (1973)
Jack Nicholson is assigned shore patrol detail to escort a young sailor to Naval Prison
But the young sailor is the “Billy Budd Christ figure” in this movie, which is worth watching
In A Few Good Men (1992), Jack playing Col Jessup in the famous courtroom scene
Paraphrases John 16:21 above, when asked about the truth:
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Col. Jessep (Jack): [shouts] You can’t handle the truth!
David tells us The Shepherd leads us and is with us in three interesting places: 1) still waters, 2) green pastures, and 3) the valley of death. I can’t imagine – no matter how hard I try – what Abraham must have felt and thought as he and Isaac climb Mt Moriah. The moment of revelation must have been glorious. I’m challenged to remain established in my Beloved.
Mr. Logan,
Have you ever read the book by Phillip Keller, “a shepherd looks at PSALMS 23?” This book was released back in 1970 and is an intimate look by Phillip who grew up and lived in East Afrca. He grew up watching these native herders who resemble their native conterparts of the Middle East, and also was a shepherd for eight years. I highly recommend it!
I have a Mother in Christ who has prayed for me and through those prayers has been somewhat responsible for some of the fruit in my life. This book is her favorite!
Brian,
Thanks for the title recommendation. I have not read Keller’s work, but I did read Kevin Leman and William Penak’s work entitled, “The Way of the Shepherd”. Their book is about leadership principles as they see exemplified in middle eastern shepherding. A good read.
I too have been blessed with a mother who prays; and a father too. My fruit is their fruit; and the fruit of all of my fore mothers and fathers who chose to walk in The Way. I’m grateful and challenged everyday to be generous.
This may be old hat to some, but it never hurts to be reminded of how well that old hat still fits. As our faith and our walk matures, the revelation increases. “Again I have much to say to you but you are not able to grasp it now” (John 16:12; AENT). [BTW, in Today’s Word John 16:12 was transposed to John 16:21]
When the King comes and is with us through the Ruach HaKodesh, the Spirit of Truth will lead is us into all truth. This is a great and overwhelming truth. He teaches us from a place of intimacy and proximity, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” He is not a detached Deity! The King is with US!
Hi Skip,elohim is the perfect abba that leads wiht his words all his children, when we grow up we’ll see our abba as he is