When God Hides

Sermon

One of the favorite arguments that atheists use to try and disprove God is called “divine hiddenness”. It’s a pretty simple argument that says if God exists, and if God is perfectly loving, then God would make sure that everyone had absolute evidence of his presence. God would make Himself known to everyone plainly.

Because not everyone has that sureness, do they? So atheists say, “You say God exists, but where is he? I can’t see him. Can’t feel him. He doesn’t make Himself known to me, and so He cannot exist.”

There are even people who want to believe in God, who say, “If God would just show me a sign that he was with me, I’d happily believe in him. But he doesn’t show me any signs, so how can I believe?”

There are a few answers to that idea of divine hiddenness. One is that in the beginning God wasn’t hidden at all, was he? God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.

But then sin came into the world. Adam and Eve were banished, and as their children, we’ve been trying to find Eden again ever since. God’s not hiding anywhere, we are. We’re the ones who hid because of sin, not God.

Second, Psalm 19 says that God reveals the truth of himself in creation: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

And then there’s Paul, who says in Romans 1 that God has plainly revealed himself in both creation and the human conscience, but it’s our unrighteousness that keeps us from seeing Him.

Still, though, there’s something about the idea of God’s hiddenness that strikes a chord in us, doesn’t it? Even as Christians. Especially as Christians. Because as Christians, we’re going to experience times when it feels like God hides himself from us. Times when our hearts, our bodies, our souls cry out to God for help, only to get silence in reply.

Where is God in that silence? In that disappointment? Where do we turn when we come to a point in our lives that we’re not only questioning our purpose or our lives, but God himself?

No matter how much faith you have, no matter how strong in God you are, there will come a point when you’ll ask those questions. Even the greatest people of the Bible asked them, and we’re going to talk about one of them today, the prophet Elijah. Turn with me to today’s scripture, taken from the book of 1 Kings, chapter 19, verses 1-18:

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree.

And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.

And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.”

And the LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.

And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

And this is God’s word.

If you’re struggling in your faith right now, this is the scripture for you. And if you’re not struggling, it’s still the scripture for you because you’re going to be struggling with your faith soon. Because that’s the Christian life. Faith has to be stretched to grow, and Jesus says your faith is everything.

But before we start, we need to understand what’s happened to Elijah to get him into this mess.

Israel had a king named Ahab. Ahab was married to a woman named Jezebel, and Jezebel was one of the most wicked people in the Bible. Just a truly awful person, evil and rotten to the core.

Jezebel had brought the worship of the pagan god Baal into the nation, and that was now the official religion of Israel. And so God called Elijah to confront Ahab and warn him and Jezebel both that their destruction would surely come if they didn’t repent.

This all comes to a head in 1 Kings 18. Elijah tells Ahab to gather all of Israel and all the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel for a final showdown. One prophet of the Lord, Elijah, against 450 prophets of Baal.

Each group, Elijah and the false prophets, had a bull prepared as a sacrifice. And when Baal’s prophets called up to heaven for fire to rain down and consume their bull, nothing happened.

But when it was Elijah’s turn, the Lord sent down fire that consumed the bull Elijah had laid out, and then the very ground beneath, and even the rocks and the dust.

And when all the people saw it, they seized the prophets of Baal and killed them.

Sounds like everything’s going right for Elijah, doesn’t it? But it’s not, because everything goes wrong.

There are four points to this story that I want you to pay attention to. The first two points are where both Elijah and we mess up — we presume to know what God is going to do, and then our perception of who God is gets messed up. The last two are how God fixes things when that happens— first He prepares us, then He gives us purpose.

First, let’s look at how Elijah presumes what God’s going to do. It’s a great scene on top of Mount Carmel when the true God, the God of the Bible, defeats the false god of Baal. But you know what? God never told Elijah to do that.

There was a terrible famine in the land, and back in the first verse of chapter 18, God tells Elijah, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.” That’s all God said to do.

But Elijah turns all of that into this confrontation on the mountain, because he presumes that’s what God wants him to do, that’s God’s plan.

But it isn’t, and that’s the heart of everything that Elijah is suffering through in Chapter 19. Instead of simply obeying what God said, Elijah presumed to know what God really wanted. He thought surely God would want him to destroy the prophets of Baal and their false religion once and for all.

But God didn’t tell Elijah to do that. Elijah went out on his own, and because of that he’s now suffering as a wanted man. Ahab and Jezebel want him dead. But instead of running away, Elijah runs right to the capitol, Jezreel, where the Ahab and Jezebel are.

Now, why in the world would Elijah run to the capitol? There’s only one answer — Elijah thinks he’s won. It’s over. The people have just killed Baal’s prophets, and now Elijah thinks they’re going to rise up against an evil and corrupt government too. Ahab and Jezebel’s reign is over.

What’s Elijah doing here? He’s presuming again, isn’t he? He’s convinced he knows what God’s going to do.

But now it all starts falling apart, because in verse 2, Jezebel sends a message to Elijah, and she doesn’t say she’s repenting. She doesn’t say she and Ahab are giving up the throne. Instead she says, “Elijah, if you’re not dead by this time tomorrow, may I be struck dead.”

So now what does Elijah do, this brave and bold prophet of the Lord? This miracle worker of Jehovah? This man of faith? He runs away. Verse 3 says he was afraid and ran for his life.

There’s a whole world between the end of chapter 18, when Elijah’s running toward the capitol convinced that he’s about to win his greatest victory, and verse 3 of chapter 19. In just 55 words, he’s gone from feeling like he’s invincible to running in fear for his life.

That’s how it usually goes for us, doesn’t it? Our biggest trials often come right after our biggest victories. And this is the biggest trial of Elijah’s life.

He’d presumed that God wanted him to perform this miracle on top of Mount Carmel, and then he’d presumed that because of that miracle, Israel would finally be rid of Ahab and Jezebel.

And now Elijah’s really in trouble, because all of those things he presumed that God would do but didn’t has now affected his perception of God Himself. Because Elijah thinks that God’s let him down.

So he runs. Elijah runs because he’s frightened for his life. He runs because he’s in absolute despair. He runs because he’s done everything right but nothing’s worked out the way it was supposed to.

Look at the end of verse 3. He runs from Jezreel and comes to Beersheba, and notice that last phrase at the end: Elijah “left his servant there.”

Everything you need to know about the state that Elijah is in, about how much his heart is broken, can be found right there in those four words.

Because what’s Elijah doing with a servant? He’s not rich enough to have a servant. But he is a prophet. That’s why he has a servant. Elijah has a servant because of his position.

You see, he’s not just leaving his servant behind. Elijah’s quitting. He’s giving up, both on God and on himself. He’s saying, “You let me down, God. I don’t understand anything you’ve done. You’ve gone hidden from me, so I quit. I’m done.”

Elijah has a problem of presumption — he presumed to know what God would do. When God didn’t do it, that led to a problem of perception — Elijah began doubting who God was.

But he does do one thing right, starting in verse 4. He runs away from Jezebel, but he runs toward the wilderness, looking for God.

He’s saying, “I don’t know who You are anymore, Lord. I’m so confused and upset, and all I want is some answers. But I’m not going to run away from You. I’m going to find You again.”

He’s so broken that he sits under a broom tree in the middle of the wilderness and asks God to take his life. Elijah wouldn’t let Jezebel kill him, but he will let God.

He’s defeated, discouraged, depressed, doubtful. But still he’s looking for the Lord, and that single choice to turn toward God even when God made no sense makes all the difference.

That’s the first step in Elijah being moved away from his false presumptions and his false perception of God to being prepared, because that’s when the angel comes.

Verses 5-8 is one of the most remarkable passages in the Bible, because it shows how God tends to each of us when we’re discouraged.

Notice first who this visitor to Elijah is. Verse 5 says it’s an angel. But down in verse 7, things get a little more specific — it’s “the angel of the Lord.” And whenever the Old Testament mentions the angel of the Lord, who is it? It’s Christ.

Second, notice what this angel doesn’t say. This is one of the very few times in scripture when an angel appears to someone and the first words aren’t, “Fear not.”

What’s the angel of the Lord say instead? “Get up and eat” in verse 5, and in verse 7 he says the same thing, and there’s a deep sense of sympathy and care when the angel says, “for the journey is too great for you.”

Isn’t that amazing? Verses 5 and 7 say that the angel touches Elijah. He remains there, sitting right beside Elijah, just listening.

As a human being, you are made up of four parts: you have a physical part, your body; a spiritual part, your soul; a psychological part, your mind and emotions; and a relational part, the need for love and community. What’s so great about verses 5-8 is that God repairs them all.

God takes care of Elijah’s physical nature by baking him bread and telling him to rest, because God knows that sometimes all we need to feel better is a good meal and a nice nap.

He takes care of Elijah’s spiritual nature by being present with him, and takes care of Elijah’s psychological nature by listening and being sympathetic — “Eat, rest. I know this is a hard journey for you.” He takes care of Elijah’s relational nature by touching him and staying close.

When we turn to God in those moments when everything seems lost and dark, the help he sends you will always satisfy not just one of those natures you have, but all of them.

There’s a big part of Elijah, though, that doesn’t care about food and rest. He wants answers. But God’s not going to give him any answers yet. He’s not going to reveal himself yet, because Elijah has to be prepared to hear them first. That’s what verses 5-8 are all about.

That time when the angel of the Lord is caring for him and the long journey of 40 days and nights that follows is God preparing Elijah for the answers Elijah needs.

God’s doing the same thing with Elijah that He does with us. He’s getting rid of Elijah’s false presumptions. He’s fixing Elijah’s false perception. He’s preparing Elijah to hear the truth.

And that truth starts in verse 9, when Elijah arrives at Mount Horeb. Notice that the angel didn’t tell him to go there. Elijah does this on his own. So why there? Why does Elijah go to a mountain so far away to look for answers from God?

You can see in verse 8 that Mount Horeb was also known as the mount of God. There was also another name for that mountain — Mount Sinai, the place where Moses went when he wanted to know God, to see God’s glory, and where God gave him the Ten Commandments.

And in verse 9 it says that Elijah came to a cave and lodged in it. The Hebrew word there is the same word used in Exodus to describe the place where Moses hid as God passed him by. In fact, a lot of scholars say that Elijah is standing in the very place where Moses once stood.

And in that place, the word of the Lord comes to Elijah not in a statement, but in a question: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Now, we’ve talked about this before. Whenever God asks a question, it’s never so He can get an answer from us, it’s always so we can receive wisdom from Him.

But Elijah thinks this is his chance. This is the moment he’s been waiting for. This is why he’s trudged 40 days and nights through the wilderness. He’s going to lay out his case. Elijah’s going to show God how he was right and God was wrong.

And it’s a great case he makes there in verse 10. He says, “I’ve done all the right things and said all the right things and stood up for You when no one else did, Lord.

“The prophets have been killed and the people have forsaken the covenant and now, God, because you let me down, I’m the only one who’s left. I’m it, and I don’t even know how much longer I have, because Jezebel is going to kill me.”

Elijah’s asking the same question we all ask God when things go wrong: Why did You do this to me? Why did You let this happen? I loved you. I did everything you asked, and everything still fell apart. I trusted You, and it wasn’t supposed to turn out this way.

And so how does God reply? Does He yell? Judge? Does He reach down from heaven and zap Elijah to dust? No.

He tells Elijah to go out and stand on the mount, and an amazing thing happens in verses 11 and 12. Nowhere else in scripture does God show up in so many different ways. Look at what happens here.

He showed up first back in verse 5 as the angel of the Lord. Now God comes as a great wind. Then an earthquake. Then a fire. And finally at the end of verse 12, a sound of a low whisper, or as the King James puts it, “a still small voice.”

And what does the voice say? That same question: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

And it’s so funny how Elijah responds in verse 14, because it’s the same thing word for word that he said back in verse 10. He’s practiced this speech. He’s got it down. He’s been practicing it over and over all the way from Beersheba.

But now here’s the thing. God is in that voice, isn’t He? God uses a voice because that’s the best way for Him to reach Elijah.

Verses 11 and 12 say that the Lord wasn’t in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire. That might lead some people to believe that God is never in the wind or earthquake or fire.

But then what is that? That’s another presumption, isn’t it? And we’ve already seen how much trouble we can get into when we start presuming what God’s going to do and how He’s going to reveal Himself. If we start thinking that God can only show up in one way, we make the same mistake as Elijah did.

That’s the point God’s making in verses 11 and 12 to Elijah and to us. Because how did God come to Job and then later to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost? As a wind. When He showed up to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, what was it? An earthquake. When Moses first met God, what form did God take? The fire of a burning bush.

God’s saying, “I didn’t let you down, Elijah. Your presumption and perception of Me let you down. That’s your whole problem.”

And that’s our whole problem, isn’t it? We confuse our plans for God’s plans, or we think God doesn’t have a plan because it’s different from the one we have.

We say, “Well if I do this and this, then God has to do this.” And God says “No — no, don’t think that way, because every time you think I’m going to show up as fire, I’ll show up as wind. And every time you think I’ll show up as wind, I’ll show up in an earthquake, and every time you think I’ll show up in an earthquake, I’ll show up in a still small voice. And do you know why? Because I’m God, and you’re not.”

Elijah’s problem is our problem. We’re always trying to put God into a box when the entire universe can’t hold Him. We’re always trying to limit a God who is limitless.

God tells Elijah, “Just because you can’t see Me working doesn’t mean I’m not.” That’s what verses 15-18 are all about.

He says, “You don’t think I have a plan? You think I’m caught by surprise by anything that happens in your life? Everything follows my will, Elijah. Even the tough things. Especially the tough things.

“Your problem is you just can’t see it. Some of it’s because you presume too much of what I’m doing, some of it is because you have the wrong perception of who I am, and some of it’s just because you’re human and can’t see things through My eyes. But that’s where trust comes in. That’s where faith grows.”

All of this, all of what Elijah’s done ever since he left his servant back in Beersheba, from wandering in the wilderness to being fed and rested to walking up Mount Horeb, is all that third point — preparation.

It’s God fixing the bruised places in Elijah’s heart, getting him ready for a truth that Elijah doesn’t just get to hear, but gets to see. God says, “I won’t ever let you down, Elijah, but if you try to fit me into your box, you’re going to let yourself down every time.”

And now because Elijah has been prepared, he reaches the final stage of what we all go through if we run to God whenever we think God lets us down. Purpose.

Elijah ran from Jezebel because he thought it was finished. His life, his ministry, his hope.

But what God tells Elijah is the same thing that he tells us: “I’m not done with you yet. Not even close. There’s work to be done. You think this is over? It’s not over. It’s just starting. I’m never going to give up on you. Don’t you ever give up on Me.”

How often do we all act like Elijah, and follow along with God so long as God is doing what we expect Him to do? Isn’t that the cause of so many of our doubts and worries? So many of our fears? Isn’t that the root of so much of our discouragement in life?

There’s an old story about the devil putting his tools up for sale. He laid them all out in front of the demons: hatred, envy, jealousy, lying, pride, doubt, all the rest. And they all had price tags on them.

But there was one tool that was more expensive than all the others, which was strange because it was more worn out than all the others too.

One of the demons asked him what the name of that tool was. And the devil said, “Oh, that one? That one’s discouragement.”

And the demon asked, “Why is the price so high?”

The devil answered, “Because it’s more valuable to me than all the others. I can use that tool to pry open the heart of anyone, and then when I get inside, I can convince them to do all sorts of horrible things.

“That’s why it’s so worn, because I use it on everyone, and the best thing is that hardly anyone realizes it belongs to me.”

That’s true, isn’t it? Because we all feel discouraged sometimes. We all get depressed at some point. There’s no escaping those things in life, because life is just so hard.

We don’t always see God working, but God is. We’re always looking for activity, we’re always waiting for God to move in our lives, but what we often forget is that God is always moving, we just can’t see it.

And a lot of times we can’t see it because God’s not moving outside of us, He’s moving inside. He’s changing our attitudes, because He knows that a changed attitude leads to a transformed life. That’s exactly what happened with Elijah on top of that mountain.

Here’s what I want you to do the next time you think God has let you down. I want you to find a mirror, and I want you to stand in front of that mirror and say out loud what Elijah said to himself:

“God, you see that person in there? That person is beyond Your help. That person is too much for You to handle. That person is too big of a problem for You. That person doesn’t think You know what You’re doing.”

Try it. I have. And you know what? If you watch yourself speak the thoughts that you’re carrying around in your head, you realize just how ridiculous and wrong those thoughts are.

Don’t be like Elijah and try to put God in a box. Don’t start presuming that God has to do it your way. As smart and wise as you are, He’s smarter and wiser. And when you get discouraged, when you feel like He’s let you down, don’t give up. Run. Run like Elijah did — not away from God, but right to Him.

And as we close our service with prayer and song, if you haven't taken those first steps toward God, then I invite you to come up here as we sing our closing hymn.

Let's pray:

Father, You are such a mighty and loving God. Your thoughts are far above our thoughts and Your ways are far above our ways, which sometimes makes it easy for us to feel you hidden from us. So Father, we pray that in our discouraging times, you give us the faith to run to you. Give us the eyes to always see your whirlwind, the ears to always hear your earthquake, and the heart to always be attuned to your still small voice. Give us the wisdom to know You won’t fit in our boxes. Be our rest when we are cast down, our fresh water when we thirst, and our comfort at all times. Lift us up, Father, so we can better see You. In Jesus’s name, amen.