Still Faithful When God Cannot Be Seen
To think that no one cares about what is happening to us is very unpleasant. But to think that God does not know or care about us can be most distressing.
To the Judeans exiled in Babylon, God did not seem to care much about their situation. They were still exiled, still feeling abandoned by God because of their sin. But Isaiah speaks words of comfort to them. Isaiah 40 is a beautiful passage in which Isaiah speaks so tenderly to the people about their God: "He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young" (vs. 11, NIV). But after so long, the exiles were thinking, Where are You, 0 Lord? We can't see any evidence that You are still there—or care!
Read Isaiah 40:27-31. In what ways does Isaiah describe God? How is this description of God meant to answer their belief that " 'My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?' " (vs. 27, NIV).
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Another group of people who might have considered that their way was hidden from God is found in the book of Esther. In this book, God is not mentioned even once. However, the whole story is an unfolding drama of God's intervention to save His people from an irrevocable law to have them destroyed. Not only does this story describe the events of the past, but it symbolizes a time in the future during which God's people will again be persecuted and a law again introduced for their destruction (Rev. 13:15). Can you imagine how easy it would be to conclude that if such terrible circumstances were existing, God must surely have deserted His people? But we are not to fear. The same God who saved His chosen ones in the story of Esther will save them again in the final crisis. We have read how Isaiah described God to the exiles.
How would you describe God to people who felt that God had disappeared and abandoned them? How would you teach them to see through the eyes of faith and not be dependent on what they see around them with their human eyes?
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