When God Hides

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

Luke 24:13-16

There are times in our spiritual lives when God seems to hide either His plans or His presence from us. There are times when, from an earthly perspective, it’s all too easy to feel as though God is way up there somewhere in Heaven and we are way down here alone on earth. Times when it isn’t at all clear what God is up to or that He’s even paying attention to what’s going on down here. 

These two disciples are experiencing one of these times as they walk toward Emmaus. It’s not clear to them what God is up to. They felt sure that Jesus was the Messiah, but then He was crucified. Now three days later, they've heard stories of an empty tomb and of angels appearing to some of the female disciples; so they don’t know what to believe. And as they walk away from Jerusalem dejected and confused, I am tempted to think that their fledgling faith was in danger of being lost forever.

Whether my hunch is right or not, Jesus saw fit to chase them down. But if He was concerned enough to pursue them, why did He keep them from recognizing Him? Why not appear to them plainly like He did to Doubting Thomas in John 20 and show them the nail marks in His hands and prove the resurrection? Consider what Jesus said to Thomas in verse 29 of that same chapter. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who have believed already without having seen Him. Jesus wants them to believe without seeing. Why?

There’s a saying that goes “Seeing is believing,” but that isn't right. Seeing isn’t believing. Seeing leads to knowledge, not to faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 puts it this way, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” Or as someone has said, “If we could see the whole picture, we wouldn’t need faith.” 

So, Jesus could have easily proven to them that He had risen. What He wants to do is to grow their faith. In order to do that, He closed their physical eyes so that He could open their spiritual eyes to see the truth of who He is by giving them patient and thorough instruction about who He is and what He had to do from the Scriptures. He wanted them to believe the truth, not just know it. 

Sometimes God does the same with us. Sometimes He hides His plan from us, so we have to search the Scriptures and grow in our understanding of them. Sometimes He even hides His presence from us, so we can learn to walk by faith and not by sight. Our physical senses can get in the way of our faith. Where there is knowledge and certainty there is no need for faith. So sometimes God doesn’t give you the certainty that you desire in order to develop in you the faith that He desires. But just like He did with these two disciples, He will always give enough to keep going. It may not be all you wanted, but whether it be by His Word or by a faithful Christian friend, He will give what you need to believe and persevere.