When God seems absent, He's Present

 

Psalm 62

My Soul Waits for God Alone

When is God’s presence found with us? Does it mean that God is with us when we have a stable job, healthy body and happy family? What if we have become seriously ill, or inflicted by Covid-19 or encountered difficulties in our family or work? Would it mean that God is not with us anymore?

David’s Experience

David encountered many hardships in life, and at times, he felt that God was not with him in his pains:

“Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?” (Psalm 6:2-3)

“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Psalm 13:1-2)

When David was in all kinds of trouble, extreme distress, severe illness, and when he was set up by others and slandered by the vicious words of others (Psalm 64:3-6), he felt weak and trembling. He was troubled all day long and felt that God was not with him.

Isn’t it true that God would not forget us?

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Isaiah 49:15)

David was in distress, and he really felt that it was like God had forgotten him forever.

We would encounter difficulties too, for example, when we suffer from severe sicknesses, encounter problems in our works and families, and when we are set up by people around us, attacked by their vicious words, and face an endless spread of plague and MCO, etc.

When we encounter all these, we really would feel as weak and distressful as David, and we would think that God is not with us anymore. “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?”

David knew that man couldn’t do anything in his predicament. When you are at your deathbed, and doctors are at their wit’s end, how could you cure yourself? When the Covid-19 cases shot above 10,000 daily, when you are maliciously accused and attacked verbally, how could you shut the mouths of those wicked people? How did David face such a situation?

“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him…. Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.” (Psalm 62:1,5）

There was no other way out for him but to wait upon the Lord in order to be restful. David knew that he could only come before God to pray and to wait patiently. It doesn’t mean that we should be lazy to settle the problem ourselves, but the truth is that we couldn’t even settle it at all. It is like when the doctor tells you: “it can’t be helped.” Then, you could only pray and wait upon God.

Praying and waiting upon God are actions to be taken when no other further actions could be taken, and these demonstrate the highest level of faith that one could ever have! It is to trust ourselves wholly unto God and believe that only He can do something for us. It is the most powerful action one could ever take at that moment. David experienced peace in heart when he responded in this way.

The Israelites’ Experience of Exodus

There the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. (Exodus 3:2)

The fire within a bush is likened to an abyss of misery. The Israelites were suffering pains in Egypt as though they were living in a burning bush. Nevertheless, there was God’s presence in their burning bush.

God spoke from within the burning bush to Moses. The un-destroyed burning bush indicates that, though outwardly the fire is burning, and it seems that God is not there within, God’s presence is indeed found within it and hence the bush was not burnt nor destroyed.

This tells us that though outwardly we might be in an abyss misery, yet inwardly we possess peace and calmness. Environment does not change, but we have peace and joy in our hearts. God seems to be absent, but He is indeed present.

When we pray and seek God, the peace of God which transcends all understanding, would guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Even though we are still trapped in our difficulties, we have peace of God in our hearts. How good it is when we have the presence of God which seems to be absent among us!

Wait upon God and you will have peace in your heart. When David prayed, he came to recognize that power belonged to God, and unfailing love belonged to Him too (Psalm 62:11-12).

Even when the Israelites were living in Egypt as though as they were living in the burning bush, God never forget them. He heard their cries all the whiles (Exodus 3:7). He sent Moses to rescue the Israelites, and He said to Moses that, “I am who I am”.

This statement is the very meaning of YHWH, God’s name, which carries the meaning, “I am who I am，I cause things to happen”. It indicates that He is an unchanging God. How He was with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He would be with the Israelites.

Moreover, He is in control of the progression of human history, and He would work out everything in order to accomplish His plans.

The bush was on fire but not burnt, and it shows that in the midst of troubles, God was with the Israelites, and He is a God who finds His presence with His people. He is a loving God, and He never forget about the Israelites.

He is also a powerful God who had rescued the Israelites from Egypt. God accomplished His salvation, and He fulfilled His covenant with Abraham, that Abraham would be blessed with many descendants, and He would build a great nation on earth.

God is also righteous, and He would surely judge sin

When David waited upon God, he discovered God was a God of love and power. However, God is righteous also, and He will reward everyone according to what they have done (Psalm 62:12). If we live in sins and do not live-in accordance with the will of God, we would not enjoy peace in our hearts even if we have waited upon Him.

Many people look good outwardly, but they do not have real peace in their hearts. It is because when they do not live-in accordance with the will of God, they would not be able to open their hearts to a righteous God.

However, if one lives in the Word of God, he/she would be able to enjoy peace in his/her heart in the process of waiting upon Him, regardless of how the outward circumstances might be.

Lincoln’s subordinates said to him once, during the American Civil War, “We will surely win, for God is with us.” Lincoln said, “I dare not say that God definitely would stand by our side, but I must know that we stand on God’s side.”

We must be reflective and discover where we have sinned against God. We must stand on the side of God, and to live in His will. By then, our hearts would be able to enjoy peace no matter how our circumstances would be, because God is with us.

Experience of Daniel’s three friends

Daniel’s three friends refused to bow down to the gold image because they obeyed God’s instruction, and hence, they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Yet they were not burnt in it, and even Nebuchadnezzar saw a fourth figure appeared in the fiery furnace, and he looked like the son of God, and he walked with three of them. (Daniel 3:1-30)

The fiery furnace was like the burning bush. These were threats of suffering and death that fell on them, as though God was not with them. However, God’s presence of joy and peace was with them in the fiery furnace! His peace and joy are something that could not be taken away by the circumstances.

God was the One who revealed Himself to Moses in the midst of a burning bush that was not destroyed. He was also the One who walked with Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace.

Conclusion

Thank God for He is the One who says that “I am who I am”. He will never change, and how He was with the Israelites, the three friends of Daniel, He would be with us also. He seems to be absent at times but he actually is present. We must wait upon Him and look up to Him.

God walks with us in the fiery furnace, judging the wicked and saving the righteous, that His fruit of salvation shall be revealed, that all men shall see His glory when history came to past.