What causes God to hide his face?

[Grace777x70]

Let's focus on this "things are allowed in our life when we need to be chaste and corrected. "

Kids in timeout isn't due to lose of control, but because kids claim to not be doing anything wrong. Timeout is used to make them realize they DID do something wrong.

I make the analogy that God has disciplined me in a similar manner by "turning His face from me."

Nothing major happens that people on the outside can see, but I know in my heart His presence is not with me. If I continue to ignore His correction, then there are major consequences that occur in my life.

That is how God has taught me right and wrong. I try and follow His example when raising my kids. Though I admit to failing at times because I am not God, but the principles are based upon how God teaches me in my own life.

So if He doesn't turn His face from you, how did He discipline you when you wandered away from Him?

I believe that Jesus is perfect theology. He came to reveal to us the Father. Jesus said that no one knows the Father.

Jesus is the exact representation of His nature. Heb. 1:1-3

How did Jesus discipline His disciples? This is the exact same way that we are disciplined of the Lord.

What ways did Jesus discipline His disciples?

 

[Ariel82]

Good question, how did He discipline His disciples? Does the Bible show us?

 

[Grace777x70]

Good question, how did He discipline His disciples? Does the Bible show us?

I can see this one for sure when the disciples spoke wrongly which this "commanding fire to come down and consume them" is the exact same place in the Old Covenant where Elijah called down fire.

There was an OT "example" of doing this and His disciple wanted to do it too.

It seems to me that He uses "words".

We also see it a few times with Peter - poor Peter got rebuked a lot...lol...just like I do too from the Lord from time to time. He uses "words of correction".

Luke 9:54-56 (NASB)
[SUP]54 [/SUP] When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"

[SUP]55 [/SUP] But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

[SUP]56 [/SUP] for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

It seems like Jesus gets "activated" when we have the wrong purpose that He came to the earth to do.

 

[Stephen63]

I'm sure He did feel that way, since He took on the same sin that confuses our perceptions. But, Scripture plainly tells us God never, for a second, left Jesus.

Plainly where?

 

[Ariel82]

God says we are to add to our faith, virtue, self control, etc...we have sin and spiritual strongholds that need tearing down.

I am not discussing salvation which is only done by Jesus work on the cross. I am discussing sanctification and making us more godly people in our ever day lives.

How does God chaste you?

Hebrews 12

4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.

Warning and Encouragement
14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought the blessing with tears, he could not change what he had done.

Can you not answer because you have never experienced God's correction or just reject it as from God?

Do you not have any area in your life you feel that God tells you to work on improving?

Me...I need to worry less about the future and focus on today and the task of today. Sometimes when I fall into this bad habit, God turns His face from me and it stops me in my tracks. It makes me re-examine my thoughts and realize the lies I heard and believe, shows me My attention has shifted focus. Then after quiet prayer and meditation, God refreshes me and I feel that I am walking in step with the Spirit again.

 

[Stephen63]

I believe that Jesus is perfect theology.

That's nice. But where is that in the Bible? Do you have a chapter & verse? A scripture that implies it?

 

[Ariel82]

Okay you and me, we are in the same room.

I turn my face from you.

Period..that's it.

Does that mean we are no longer in the same room?

Does that mean I left the room?

 

[Ariel82]

That's nice. But where is that in the Bible? Do you have a chapter & verse? A scripture that implies it?

Why are you picking at him? How does this add to the conversation?

Our theology should be based on Christ and His examples .If you disagree, then we need a new thread to discuss what you base your theology upon.

 

[tourist]

That's nice. But where is that in the Bible? Do you have a chapter & verse? A scripture that implies it?

I believe that the whole bible implies it. After all, it is called the Word of God.

 

[Ariel82]

I have tasks to accomplish today.

Thanks again p_reb for the article and everyone else for taking the time to respond. Be back sometime later tonight if God allows it.

I hope and pray, y'all don't get in a fight about off topic things. Or even on topic fights would be bad.

 

[Stunnedbygrace]

What causes God to hide His face from us?

Is it when we sin or break His laws? Is it when we turn our face from Him and seek after the temptations of this world? Is it when we hold onto anger and bitterness and refuse to forgive others?

What are the causes?

What are the results?

And is it a bad thing if it cause death of the flesh and a renewal by the Holy Spirit?

Psalm 104
You hide Your face, they are troubled;
You take away their breath,
they die and return to their dust.

You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever; May the Lord rejoice in His works.

Sometimes He hides to wean us.
Everything He created shows His glory, even as when a mother refuses her baby milk and sets it to walk on its own instead of continuing to feed it milk., and insists it's ready for grown mens food.

I have always seen it as a fast, but not from temporal food - rather spiritual food, in order to purge us of our impurities of the flesh and to train us to walk by faith instead of our poor eyesight.

People say they are closer to God after a fast from food (which I know nothing about because I've never been on one). But I can attest that after a time of a fast in spirit and truth, I receive more light and know His mind a little better. I don't know how it works, or exactly how He does it, but He does!

 

[Grace777x70]

I have tasks to accomplish today.

Thanks again p_reb for the article and everyone else for taking the time to respond. Be back sometime later tonight if God allows it.

I hope and pray, y'all don't get in a fight about off topic things. Or even on topic fights would be bad.

Thanks for the discussion. It's good to be able to talk about things and we did it pretty good for the most part without insulting one another. We are growing in our godliness towards each other...

None of us know everything there is to know about a subject which is why we are to respect one another in the body of Christ because we need each other.

Sometimes it's the "way we present" some things that can "trigger a response" from others too and sometimes it just conflicts with what we were taught in the past.

This is a good time to practice speaking "sound words" as Paul says to do. It is a good OP to help us know the Lord better.

 

[BeyondET]

I think you don't understand the meaning behind the phrase. Its not like I am saying God abandons us. So I don't understand your fierce objection to the idea that God does not always has His face upon us.

Jesus said there is 12 hours in a day for a man to work. When God's face is upon us, it is spiritual day and we can have much work done. When God's face is hidden, we are in spiritual darkness.

That causes us to cry out to God. For us to ask God to hold our hands because we can't see where we are going. We can try to do work in a vain attempt to bribe God into turn the light back on, but the work will be shoddy and not blessed by God.

During the times we feel that God turns His face from us. During the times of spiritual drought or darkness, we need to cry out and wait upon the Lord to answer.

Then He will pour His Spirit forth with life giving water and light will come with the rising of the Son, When He turns His face to look upon us again.

If I am off base in this, then I ask you pray and let God show me the error in my thinking and reasoning.

Let me say I'm not trying to be fierce, but what I'm saying is this though you may think God has turn his face from a person is in sprirtaul darkness is not the reality of it, in reality He is watching our every move and waiting for us even those who are in darkness his not far away from them either.. It's best in times of hardship to look for the silver lining in it that's the message not the hardship...

 

[FreeNChrist]

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

Good passage, one of my favorites.

 

[Stunnedbygrace]

Let me say I'm not trying to be fierce, but what I'm saying is this though you may think God has turn his face from a person is in sprirtaul darkness is not the reality of it, in reality He is watching our every move and waiting for us even those who are in darkness his not far away from them either.. It's best in times of hardship to look for the silver lining in it that's the message not the hardship...

Absolutely.
He only appears to us to be gone, and we have the understanding of a small child shrieking and pounding on the door because mom closed and locked it to use the loo, but the child is terrified that because he can't see mom, she is gone forever.

 

[BeyondET]

That's nice. But where is that in the Bible? Do you have a chapter & verse? A scripture that implies it?

IMO this verse speaks on Jesus being the perfect theology...

Luke9:35
A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him."

 

[BeyondET]

Absolutely.
He only appears to us to be gone, and we have the understanding of a small child shrieking and pounding on the door because mom closed and locked it to use the loo, but the child is terrified that because he can't see mom, she is gone forever.

Indeed, that's a great analogy, so true that be just like that, yet the moms know where the child is at all times..

 

[Grace777x70]

Absolutely.
He only appears to us to be gone, and we have the understanding of a small child shrieking and pounding on the door because mom closed and locked it to use the loo, but the child is terrified that because he can't see mom, she is gone forever.

Good analogy as it shows the child had the wrong "perception because his thinking was contaminated" but once he grows up and his mind is renewed to the truth - he knows his mom has never left him nor was hiding from him.

He now is living "by faith" in the truth of who she really is towards him. And we do the same thing when our minds are renewed to the truth of our Father and Lord are always with us. They can't get any closer then "one spirit together".

I think another term for this "perception" that God is hiding from us is called the "wilderness experience". This is where we learn to walk by faith and not by sight or feelings.

 

[Mash]

I like the blog. I'm currently reading Phillip Yancey's 'Reaching for the Invisible God'.
Its a book I'd recommend any time.

Maybe God doesn't hide his face in the real sense of the word hide.
In 1 Tim 6:16 God is described as 'invisible and dwelling in unapproachable light'.
It might be that the desire to see God is inherent in all men, arguably since the garden of Eden.
The apostle Phillip once told Jesus, "Show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

In the famous faith chapter, we are told that we cant please God without faith.
The author of this beautiful apostle defines faith as 'evidence of things not seen'.
In the epistle to the Ephesians Paul wrote that we are saved by grace through faith.

Perhaps the reason GOD is unseen is to prove our faith, the very item needed not just for our salvation but also for His pleasure (Heb 11:6)

 

[PeterJens]

I think God does not hide His face, we shut love out of our hearts and
do not notice.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
Psalm 22:1,24