God in the Shadows

First Church Charlotte

July 12, 2020, | Pastor Nathan Elms Have you ever asked yourself why God would hide Himself? Why would God choose faith as a path to his heart? Here is a lesson I have learned: God often works in the shadow and mystery. Remember Elijah? Elijah has not been given a “problem”; Elijah has been given a mystery. Mystery doesn’t just humble us; it also offers a strange sort of comfort. In the life of Job, for instance, all of the man’s troubles—the loss of his family, wealth, and health—leave him miserable, and he waits for God to show up and provide answers for his suffering. And yet, when God does show up, He doesn’t provide the man with a single answer. Instead, in Job 38:2-11 (ESV), God offers a cascading series of questions and images: God offers example after example of the strangeness of creation; God layers image upon image, immersing Job in an ever-larger world. God speaks to Job, not to solve problems or answer riddles, but to propound mystery and expand Job's understanding of the power of God ... Verbally speaking the questions of Jehovah seem darker and more desolate than the questions of Job; yet Job was comfortless before the speech of Jehovah and is comforted after it. He has been told nothing, but he feels the terrible and tingling atmosphere of something which is too good to be told. The refusal of God to explain His design is itself a burning hint of His design. The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. God doesn’t work in sunshine; He demonstrates in the sunshine; God works in the shadow? Why? Because “doing something” isn’t hard for God... Doing something through you and I, that’s hard... So God “works” on you in the shadows, you so can “demonstrate” him in the sunlight