Have you ever noticed this statement in the Bible—"a God who hides Himself"? I have tested numbers of brothers and sisters with this question and have made the discovery that scarcely any of God's children have realized that His Word contains such an expression; nor do they really know God as a God who hides Himself. They know Him as the almighty One, as the righteous One, as One full of grace and compassion; but as the One who hides Himself, He is unknown to them.
Note how Isaiah expresses this thought: "Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel." This statement of his is most emphatic. He is not talking empty words, the fruit of his own imagination; his utterance is based on an accumulation of facts. He has looked at those facts, he has studied those facts, and then he has come to his conclusion: "You are a God who hides Himself, O God." What he has seen of God's doings, what he has observed happen to Israel under the hand of God, what he has beheld of the experiences of God's people—all these observations have forced the prophet to acknowledge that God is a God who hides Himself. Why did Isaiah come to this conclusion? If you read his book through, you will discover. It was because God did countless things in the midst of the children of Israel and countless things in their personal lives, yet He concealed Himself. He was ceaselessly working, yet He was always hidden. Very much was being done by Him, yet the Israelites were utterly ignorant as to who the doer was. Then one day Isaiah exclaimed, "Surely You are a God who hides Himself, O God."
Our personalities are diametrically opposed to God's personality. He likes concealment, we like display; He does not crave outward manifestations, we cannot be content without them. This divine disposition constitutes a great trial and test to us.
"Elijah was a man of like feeling with us," and he did not stand this test. On Mount Carmel God was obviously with him; but when God withheld His manifest presence, Elijah could not bear it. He became depressed and crept into a cave. When God asked him, "What doest thou here?" he answered, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." God knew Elijah's difficulty; He knew Elijah wanted Him to be a God who would manifest Himself; he had not realized that God is a God who hides Himself. So God gave him a demonstration. There arose "a great and strong wind." Elijah thought: The Lord is in this! "But the Lord was not in the wind." The wind was followed by an earthquake. Elijah thought: Surely the Lord is in this! "But the Lord was not in the earthquake." Then came a fire, and Elijah thought: The Lord is a consuming fire, He'll be in this! "But the Lord was not in the fire." After the fire came a still small voice—and the Lord was in that! Elijah said to Him, "I, even I only, am left"; but the Lord very gently answered, "There are seven thousand persons who have not bowed down to Baal. Elijah, I hide Myself; you did not know I had preserved those seven thousand souls." Elijah had reckoned only with what he could see; but God is a God who hides Himself. He was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire; He was in the still small voice. He had preserved for Himself seven thousand persons who had not bowed the knee to Baal; but so hidden was His activity, not even the prophet Elijah knew anything about it.