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Hidden-ness of God - A take on Psalms 77

Asaph cries out to God telling Him that God has been absolutely silent to him. Telling God that He has kept him awake and that Asaph's heart refuses to be comforted. He keeps asking in this song "Will the Lord spurn forever?" "Will God just forget us?" ( Psalm 77 )

This theme is common through the Bible, a God who seems hidden. But is it so ? I wondered and found that I too at many times have asked that question. Will God not show Himself ? I kept praying and I found out that it was for His glory that God did all that. Seriously! 

Let me tell you an incident. I have recently applied for a visa to a country and strangely I went to the embassy of that country without the right document. It was not that I did not want to, but I did not have any. I had decided to go to the embassy and ask if the documents I had was enough and seek advice to find alternatives to the documents I lacked. Strange as it could be, the embassy who on the phone seemed strict with all the documentation, accepted my application, even though I had gone that day to apply for a visa. I left the embassy in awe, actually fear, wondering what God I serve. What had happened was unreal! I applied for a visa that I wanted but could not on any normal day have applied. Now I wait, for it to come through. Just minutes before my number was called, I had been crying silently wondering how would I be able to move to this country and then after fifteen minutes,I was wondering what on earth had happened. 

Israel too had to face this issue. Asaph considers the fact that the people believed in a God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Joseph when they were in Egypt. I want us to consider this case. In those days, ancient Egyptian, Indus valley and even Aztec civilization existed. A study into these cultures would reveal that the "gods" they believed were actually elements or forces in the air, sea or land. In Egypt, the king god was "Ra". Now why would a culture believe differently to the world around them? Had they seen their God? No, their belief in a invincible, invisible, immortal, omnipresent deity was very much counter cultural. 

Psalm 77:16 says "The waters saw you of God, the waters saw you of God and was afraid". In the modern day it may sound quite illogical to say such a statement, but imagine this: In Egypt, the Nile was a god, the waters were like a god, the sun was a god and what happened was with the ten plagues, the entire belief system of Egypt was put on turmoil. This is what Asaph is saying, he is declaring the invincibility of God. He is declaring that his knowledge of God is beyond his knowledge of the issue. 

Declare this over your life, speak it over and over again to your heart, ÏTS ALL FOR HIS FAME - AND ITS GOD WHO MATTERS - NOT I". This is not a solution, the solution is GOD. He makes mountains big and valleys deep that we stop and seek the might of God. This is called the soverignity of God above all things.  Abraham Kyper once said about Jesus having defeated sin for us in this manner - "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ''Mine!"  

Refuse to be comforted by all and everything, except the presence of God. Its He who matters. 
God Bless.


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