In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: It may be that you are walking through some vale in your life today and you say God's abandoned me. No, he hasn't. He may have turned his face for a brief moment to teach you you really can't do without him. Sometimes as we walk through the valley, he does just that in order to help us see how absolutely dependent upon him we are in every single area of our life.

Guest (Male): Does God feel far away? And you're struggling to know that you're still connected to him? We all like to sense the warmth of the Lord's presence, but sometimes it just feels distant and silent. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, you'll find assurance for those times when it seems God hides his face.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Would you turn to Psalm 142 for just a moment? And let me ask you the question, have you ever felt like this? Psalm 142. I cried unto the Lord with my voice. With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble.

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privately laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul.

Or could it be that you felt like what he says in Deuteronomy, that 28th chapter and the 23rd verse, when he says, when a man prays, he says the heavens are like brass and the earth is like iron? Something is wrong. Somehow not getting through. Or could it be that you have felt like Jesus felt when he prayed from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

And the psalmist so often cries out, God, where are you? In a sense of depression and loneliness and frustration and fear and anxiety, reaching out for God. Where are you? And on the other hand, he says, I'll be with you, even through the shadows of the darkness of a deep valley.

I suppose there are more people hurting today than most of us ever begin to realize. And people ask the question, why is it when I pray, I don't feel God saying anything? I reach up and I don't hear anything. I just can't seem to touch God. My heart is breaking, I'm weeping on the inside. It's like I'm being closed in, I'm in a deep dark cave. I'm imprisoned, there are shackles on my hand, there are shackles on my feet, and somehow I can't get my life off dead center.

Well, he says in this passage, in Isaiah 54, for a small moment, listen, a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath, I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer. And I want us to look at those two verses because I believe here is an encouraging word from God that many people who are hurting need to get a grip on and understand and apply to their heart.

I don't know what may be causing you to hurt. I don't know how deep the hurt is. But I want you to listen to what he says in these two verses. What does he mean when he says God hides his face? Now, he's specifically referring here to the people of Judah, and he's saying to them a prophecy of what is going to happen to them. And you know they went for 70 years into the Babylonian captivity.

He says for a moment, for a small moment, how long is a small moment? He says, I'm going to hide my face from you. I'm going to forsake you. These the people of God, forsaking the people of God, hiding his face? That doesn't sound like a God of mercy and kindness and goodness and love and omniscience and omnipotent and omnipresence. What is God doing hiding his face from the people that he said he loved above all the peoples in the earth?

Well, let's think for just a moment. First of all, the Bible says that God is spirit. And if he's spirit, he doesn't have hands like we have. He doesn't have a face to turn like we have or feet as we have. But these are anthropomorphic terms that describe or help us to be able to picture in some way what God is like. And if I should ask you what is your picture of God, everybody has a different one depending upon several things. But let's lay all of that aside for just a moment and look at what he's saying. He says he hides his face.

Now let me explain what that does not mean. That does not mean that for some reason or at some point in your life and mine, God ceases to be interested in what concerns us and so he hides his face. It doesn't mean that. Nor does it mean when he says he hides his face or forsakes us for a moment that he abandons us and leaves us to ourselves. It could not mean that because he says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.

So, it does not mean that he has decided to show no interest. Doesn't mean that he has abandoned us to the situation or the circumstance in which we find ourselves. Doesn't mean that he has no interest at all. Doesn't mean that he has ceased to love us for just a brief moment. It does not mean that he no longer cares for just a brief moment.

What does he mean when he says that he would forsake them for a brief moment, for a small moment, that he would hide his face? Here's what I believe God is saying. Think for just a moment about your relationship to Jesus Christ, and the more real that is, the more real this will be to you. Have there been times in your life when you really needed God? Now, all of us need him all the time, but there are times when we feel a strong, intimate, desperate need for warm, wonderful intimacy with him. We just want to feel him in a very special way.

And you reached out and he wasn't there. You say, but now wait a minute, he says he's omnipresent. Right. But you reached out and somehow you couldn't feel him. You prayed and somehow it didn't seem to be that he was listening. And you began to read the scriptures and everything sort of became blurred when it came to understanding what was said. In fact, as you read it just looked like they were just black print on white paper and that it had no message whatsoever.

And you ask yourself the question, Lord, what's the matter? Why can't I pray? Why aren't you listening? Why do I feel you so distant? And the word is alienation. God, why do I feel so alienated from you? Why do I feel that there's a gap between us? Why do I feel there's a segment of something between us that I can't seem to reach you? And you begin to look at your heart and you say, Lord, what have I done? Is there something in my life that I'm not aware of? Is there something that I've said, something that I've done? Why is it that I can't get through?

Now, when he says he hides his face, it does not mean that God ceases to know what's going on because he's omniscient. He's spirit and all people are in the presence of God. What does he mean when he says that for some reason he hides his face? Well, let's describe it this way. For some reason, it is as if God just pulls the veil down between himself and us. It's as if he closed his ear and we prayed and we knew he couldn't be listening because it was just ricocheting off the walls.

As he says in Deuteronomy, the heavens turned into brass and the earth became iron, and what we said just sounded and we could hear it coming back. And haven't you prayed and you were hearing more what you were saying than feeling anything? And you thought to yourself, I might as well just get up and go on and get busy because God didn't hear this. I'm hearing it, but he's not listening. It's as if he pulls the veil down.

For a brief moment, he says something has happened. What is it? It's as if fear sort of overshadows his sense of love and devotion to us and his care for us. And here we are crying out to God as one of his children, and it's as if the Lord has just departed and alienated himself from us and he's nowhere to be found.

All of those are feelings that you and I have. Because you see, there is no such thing as God departing from us because we're always in the presence of God. But when we get that feeling, sometimes it's as if the presence of God is nowhere to be found. You may have gone to bed feeling super great. You get up the next morning, within an hour's time, it's as if what's happened? Or in the middle of the day, you reach out and somehow God isn't there.

It isn't that he's not there. He's always there. It isn't that he has abandoned us to ourselves. He cannot do that to one of his children. But he said to his people, he said for a little while, it will be as if I forsake you, as if I turned my face and hid my face from you. And what he was saying to them is this, what you're going to experience is going to invoke from you the feeling that I've forsaken you, that I've abandoned you, that I've turned my loving face from you and you're going through a valley of suffering and heartache.

Now let me give you four reasons I believe that you and I get the feeling that God's turned his face from us, that God has forsaken us, that the veil is down, the oneness is shattered, and we cry out in desperation. Somehow we don't feel anything. And this intimate, loving, caring God has forgotten to hear what we're saying.

Well, the first thing that's very evident is this. When you and I deliberately choose to sin against God and violate a known spiritual principle, what happens? It is as if God pulls the veil down between us and our fellowship with him. Now, let me tell you what I'm not saying so you won't get confused. I'm not saying that you're lost. You can't be once you're saved.

Nor did I say that God had abandoned you. But what happens is when you and I choose deliberately to sin against God, as he warned Judah time after time of their idolatry, they violated God's law over and over and over again and he says as a result, the feeling that you're going to get is that I have hid my face, that I have forsaken you, but for a moment.

When you and I sin against the Lord, what happens? The very nature of sin itself is like a veil that comes down between us and God. You say, but now suppose I confess it immediately? You're forgiven. But when you and I look at a situation and we evaluate it and we choose to deliberately violate what we know is the law of God, it's as if the veil comes down, the oneness is broken, and God is alienated from us when in reality we have alienated ourselves from God by doing what? By doing the very thing that causes God to turn his face from us. It doesn't mean he loves us any less, that he's not willing to forgive us, but he hates sin.

And if you'll go through the scriptures here, you'll be surprised how many times there is a mention of God hiding his face. All through the Psalms, the 27th Psalm, the 69th Psalm, the 101st Psalm, all through here. For example, Psalm 69, and hide not thy face from thy servant, for I'm in trouble. Hear me speedily. And the Psalmist, David, that was his concept, that was his feeling, that oftentimes in trouble, it's as if God hid his face.

And so what is he saying? It is as if God turns his face when you and I deliberately violate and we premeditatedly violate the law of God. What happens? The oneness of fellowship is broken. It's as if the veil comes down. It's as if God has alienated himself from us when in reality we choose to walk from our fellowship with him.

The second thing that gives us that feeling is when the Lord chooses to teach us something and so what does he do? He puts us in the valley. If you'll look back to the 48th chapter of Isaiah just for a moment, and here is a verse that describes what sometimes you and I feel the Lord is doing to us. In verse 10, he says, behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

All right, back to Job chapter 3, I believe. Job chapter 3, and listen to what Job is saying. And here is a man whom God allowed to be tested. He says, after this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day. And Job spoke and said, let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, there is a man-child conceived. Let this day be darkness. Let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it. Let a cloud dwell upon it. Let the blackness of the day terrify it. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it. Let it not be joined to the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the month. Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.

Here is a man who's caught up. Here is a man who is in a state of despair. All of earth has come tumbling down upon him. He's lost everything of any value to him. And he says, cursed be the very day that I was born. Overshadowed, alienated from God. The veil is down, the oneness is broken. And all that it seems that the love of God had provided for him, the wrath of God had taken from him.

And you see, it was not his sin. It was that God was in the process of teaching him something. Took him through the valley, into the valley, to teach him a great lesson. But isn't it interesting that we're still talking about Job? Isn't it interesting the lessons to be found in that book? That God for a moment, for a brief moment, did what? He just hid his face for a moment. He just, as if it were, forsook him for a moment. But he said what? Not far.

And you see, one of the reasons we get the feeling that God has turned his face is we sin against him and we walk away from fellowship. The second reason is that he puts us into a period of testing and trial. When the Lord wants to teach us some things, not everything, but some lessons require God give us the sense of being on our own. And that listen, it's the feeling we get. It is the feeling we have. God, where are you? And it's as if he's turned his face.

I can remember the first time in my life when that became a living, threatening, fearful reality for me. And I can remember what I did, where I was, and I can remember for the first time in my life the awesome sense of hopelessness as if it were as if God had said, now you just do it your way. And I would pray and nothing would happen. And I was seeking the Lord's mind about one of the most important decisions of my life and God was nowhere to be found.

I'd read the Bible, I couldn't even read John 3:16, it was nothing. I'd pray, it didn't work. I got the hymnbook out and I began to read hymns to the Lord. That didn't work either. Nothing worked. It was as if I felt abandoned by God. You do your thing your way. That went on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. And Friday night I walked into my room and it was as if the Lord Jesus himself was standing there. That whole room was just perfectly full of love and acceptance and everything my heart desired.

I didn't have to see him. I felt enough that I didn't need to see anything. But I know what he means when he says he turns his face. He gives us up to ourself to give us that sense of helplessness to see how absolutely futile life would be without him. And it may be that you are walking through some valley in your life today and you say God's abandoned me. No, he hasn't.

He may have turned his face for a brief moment to teach you you really can't do without him, to teach you how absolutely dependent you are upon him for every single thing in your life, to make you freshly aware of how much you do depend upon him, how much he does love you. And you see, if you and I are in the habit constantly of depending upon the fellowship and resting in the fellowship and relying and leaning upon the fellowship of husbands or wives or children or friends, would it not be natural for God every once in a while to get our attention by turning his face and allowing us to do what? Suddenly realize how much we need him and cry out to him?

Sometimes it's because of sin. Sometimes it's because of a lesson he's trying to teach us. Sometimes as we walk through the valley, he does just that in order to help us see how absolutely dependent upon him we are in every single area of our life. Listen, I don't know where you are from your point of view, but I can tell you where you are from God's point. You're still enveloped in his everlasting and loving arms. You may not feel his touch. You may feel alienated. You may feel distant. But it is in your feeling, it is not the reality of the presence of God.

So, what do we do in those times? We just trust what he said and believe who he is in his character and know we could never be forsaken, we could never be abandoned by a God who loved us enough to give us his only begotten Son.

Guest (Male): If your faith is in Jesus, then no matter how you feel, the reality is that you're not abandoned. Read Psalm 139, meditate on its truths, and rest in the certainty that God is always with you. You'll find more reassurance of the presence and faithfulness of God at intouch.org. You'll find a link to hear this message again on our home page. Just look for Today on Radio.

And if you'd like to have a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, you can order at the bookstore. The title is When God Hides His Face. Our web address again is intouch.org. Call or text to 1-800-INTOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

When God seems silent, we can feel abandoned. As we heard today, the reality is quite different. We'll hear some final thoughts on that coming up in today's Moment with Charles Stanley.

From the Pastor's Heart is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. To receive In Touch's From the Pastor's Heart letter, call 1-800-INTOUCH or visit intouch.org/pastorsheart.

You're listening to In Touch. God intends to teach believers to be confident for him, but never independent of him. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Sometimes you and I feel that God's turned his face. Sometimes we feel he's alienated himself from us and we can't figure out why. Now, listen carefully. For example, when you teach a little child to walk, what do you do? Well, for a while, you pick him up by his arms and you walk him around and you brag about look at him walking, his poor little old legs about to fall off, and you're just bragging like everything. Look at him walk.

After a while, he gets used to that, and then you say, all right now, you're going to walk. And he takes one or two steps and he falls. But now you have taken your hands off of him. But you're not too far away, you're right there. Now, here's what God does to us sometimes, we don't understand this. Sometimes depending upon what he wants to teach us, he's like a Heavenly Father teaching us to walk in a difficult place.

And it's as if the Lord withdraws his hands and lets us walk, and he's not any further away from us than an earthly father would be from his son whom he's trying to teach to walk. And we begin to walk and we feel God, where are you? He's right there.

Guest (Male): You can learn more about how to take steps of faith in God when you visit us at intouch.org. And if today's program encouraged you to invest more deeply in your relationship with Christ, we'd love to hear from you. On the next In Touch, have you ever noticed a disconnect between what you know about scriptural principles and the way you live? It's not always easy to put knowledge into action, is it? I hope you'll join us again to hear how to build truth into your life on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.