Hidden but Not Separate

“Thou didst hide Thy face.’’ — Ps. xxx. 7. ““Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Rom. viii. 35.

TuERE can be a hiding while there is no alienation. The face may be hidden, but there is no withdrawal of the Presence. There may be mist, and cloud, and darkness, but the Lord has not gone away. Events may be perplexing, but His love abides. Our understanding may faint while the heart continues her sacred communion. The light may tarry, the Life is here!

There is no one so blind as the one who claims to see everything clearly. Who has not met the trifler to whom everything is plain? He has the key to every lock, the answer to every riddle! And this is the knowledge that “puffeth up.” It is a very dry and unperceptive thing. It lacks the softening moisture of humility and reverence and awe. It wants the liquid humour without which the eye can have no vision.

God hides His face! It may be that there are some things that would never come to any life or stature if it were not for the influence of the darkening cloud. There are many ferns which would never unroll their beauty if it were not for the damp, cooling ministry of the shade. Who can grow ferns in the dry light of the garish day? And there are precious ferns in the realm of the soul which would never appear in strength and loveliness were it not for the een nnn Hidden but not Separate 33

hiding of the Face. There is patience, and meekness, and humility, and modesty, and there are the fine delicate ferns we call reticence and reserve. What is character like if these are wanting? And it may be that if there were no “hiding,” no shadow, no cloud, these most precious virtues and graces might never adorn the soul; or, if they did, they would be so feeble as to immediately wither away ‘‘ when heat cometh.” But when He hideth His face the twilight that falls upon us is the shadow of the Almighty.

But let us say it once again, when the face is hidden the love is near. Nothing can take that away, not even our sin. And love never sleeps. Love never faileth. She never drops out of the ranks while stronger troops march on. She never faints, and she is always in ministry, working out her own gracious purpose night and day. Is the face hidden in our own day? The Love is here: nay, infinitely better, the Lover is here! To believe it, even while we are in the shadow, is to grow in heaven’s gracious mist, to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.