August 11

Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled. - Psalms 104:29.

HERE is a reference to the saints of God who are bewailing the suspension of Divine manifestations. “Thou hidest thy face.” The sun is always in the sky, but it is not always visible. So God hides himself from the house of Jacob; and if we belong to the house of Jacob, we shall be affected by it as the Psalmist was when he addressed to God this complaint. Here it may be necessary to remark, that we must not consider this suspension of Divine manifestation as a mere effect of Divine sovereignty; for God doth not “afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men,” much less his own children, who are infinitely dear to him. He himself, by the prophet Isaiah, has explained the case both negatively and positively: “The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you.”

It is therefore either as a prevention of sin, or a correction for it. “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offences and seek my face; in their affliction they will seek me early.” Or is it to rebuke for some duty omitted, or some object idolized. We shall do well, therefore, to think, if this be our experience now, of the address of Eliphaz to Job: “Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee?” Is there no worm at the root of our gourd? “O,” says Joab, at Beth-Maachah, “I do not wish to injure the place, but I am pursuing a traitor, and I will have his head; throw this over the wall, and I will blow the trumpet, and withdraw all the besieging forces.” And so it was. Thus we should apply this-thus should we say-

“The dearest idol I have known,

Whate’er that idol be,

Help me to tear it from thy throne,

And worship only thee.

“So shall my walk be close with God,

Calm and serene my frame,

So purer light shall mark the road

That leads me to the Lamb.”

There is a depth of distress experienced. “They are troubled.” But who can find language to describe the wretchedness produced in the minds of the godly by the hiding of God’s face from them? How in such a case does the soul in its darkness mingle its drink with weeping!

The heart’s bitterness is known only to itself. Distress of circumstances-worldly disappointments-bodily pains -the desertion of friends-family bereavements-all these could be borne, and borne well, if God is near; if God be with us, if God be in us-but, O the thought, I am forsaken, I am forgotten of God! This misery may be accounted for by three things. The first is, that the Christian loves God. He does not love him perfectly, but he loves him supremely; and we all know that love can never be reconciled to the absence of its object; distance is painful, but the thought of separation is intolerable.

Secondly, He entirely relies upon him. He knows and feels that he is to him all and in all-that his God is more necessary to him than the sun is to the earth, or the soul is to the body, and that without him all must be darkness, drear iness, desolation, and death. And thirdly, Because he has enjoyed him already. He has had an experience of communion with God, and this stimulates his desire, and makes him long for more. Thus it was with David: “My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”

“My God, repeat that heavenly hour,

That vision so divine.”