Immanuel, God with us. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it, granted, but the history the Word of God spells out says, 'Don't doubt it.' First came God's ideal, walking with Adam and Eve in the garden - I like how the Bible adds 'after the heat of the day was past.' Adds a personal touch! Then the original couple messed up, oops, and they were cast out of the garden. Yet later on, Cain, punished for killing his brother, said, "I will be hidden from your presence." (Gen 4:14) Apparently, between the garden and later history was a special intermediate time, when God seemed closer.
Then humanity turned wretched and God seemed absent, but in the midst of it all was one righteous (and probably lonely) man, carrying out the strangest instructions to build the biggest boat anyone had ever seen. Nobody had a clue how to build boats that big way back in yonder years, but God knew, and He used divine revelation to save a holy remnant. The world seemed to be abandoned, but God was with us. (Gen 6-9)
The world turned wretched again, but God made a covenant with one man, saying He would build an entire nation through Him. (Gen 12) (But, um, God - are you sure? Because I can't even sire a child with my wife!) Finally a single child was born, Isaac, and to him just two children, twin sons. And then God's blessings exploded in the form of children - twelve sons to one man! And they all lived, which back then was several miracles wrapped up in one. God was with them the whole time - they just couldn't see it.
The pattern goes on - 400 years as slaves in Egypt with no word from God, they felt forgotten - yet the prophecies came true. God hadn't forgotten them. He raised up a leader to bring them out of Israel. (Exodus 1) God led them very personally through the desert, a pillar of cloud by day and a fire by night. The tabernacle was called the 'Tent of Meeting,' - meetings between God and man - and 'housed' the Presence of God.
He was with them as they fought their enemies in the Promised Land. (Joshua 1) He provided judges to lead them, and then kings. Prophets taught them the right way. He was with them.
Then - ugh - another four hundred years issue. The prophets fell silent, and all the people had was holy Scripture and the messianic promise it contained. Yet God was with them - what seemed to be the case was not, in fact, the case at all. God had neither changed nor abandoned them. He had simply altered how He was dealing with them. And while they didn't have contemporary prophets guiding them, they did have the written Word.
And the written Word proved true. Isaiah prophesied a Messiah that would be called Immanuel (Isaiah 9), and seven hundred years later He arrived. Revelations says that God will descend to earth to live with His people (Rev 21:2-3) - to be with us. Immanuel, in the final and truest sense.
The Personal Note
Sometimes, it feels like God isn't around, but He is. Believe it. He hasn't abandoned you. You still have His Word to guide you, and even when you can't tell He's guiding you He knows exactly what you need and will lead you into that place.
If it feels like God is absent, maybe it's because there's a sin in your life that He wants to deal with. Or maybe it's just God testing you, seeing whether you'll trust Him and bringing you into a better place. In which case you might want to read 'Dark Night of the Soul,' by St. John of the Cross. Richard Foster also deals with this in his book on prayer, saying that you must keep studying His Word even when you don't sense His revelation, feel satisfaction from fellowship, get anything out of your Bible study, etc. He claims it is a period of testing that God brings all Christians of a certain maturity into - which has always frightened me a little!
Incidentally, the times that God seems the most clearly absent - when they were slaves in Egypt and when He ceased speaking through the prophets - both preceded a time when God seemed particularly close and personal, Immanuel in the clearest sense, guiding them through the desert as a pillar of cloud and sending His Son to live with them.
So if you're in a dry spell, take heart - after it's past, God may seem closer than ever before.
Study Questions
1. What biblical basis do you have for believing God is not with you in a certain situation or in life as a whole?
2. How much effort did God expend to prove to you that He is with you?
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