Does God hide from us?

Morning Devotions November 4th       Psalm 89

I have included the first part of Psalm 89 but you probably read it yesterday if you are following the Daily Lectionary Readings. The reason is that there is a sudden switch which takes place with this mornings reading. In the first part of the Psalm, the writer is overflowing with joy at God’s great love – verse after verse he tells of this wonder.

THEN….

“But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been angry ….” and the writer goes on to ask if God will hide Himself forever.

What happened? Perhaps in his exultation the writer suddenly realised that his verses were emptying into a vacuum, that God was not there to hear his exclamations of praise. Or perhaps his earlier praise was an attempt to “lure” God back into his life – we do that ….

Does God hide Himself from us? I think not. But we do have a tendency to look past Him so that we do not see Him.

The marvel of the Psalm though is that the last verse closes with these words, “Praise be to the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.”

I think that says it all – in the midst of joy and sorrow, God is always there. Amen and Amen.