"Wherefore hidest thou thy face?" .Job 13:24

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Once upon time, in far off land of Uz lived a good man and prosperous. Respected by all. Tragedy descends suddenly. Calamity fol­lowed by calamity. At lengtp, stripped of all possessions, health gone, he may be found out­side city wall among refuse - pathetic figure.

A p icture to stir pity in any heart . Blow upon blow. Once wealthy; now bones of cattle bleach in sun. Sons and daughters gone. Body full of pain dlld sores. Furthermore, has lost God. Out of dim and muffled centuries we hear his anguished cry: "0 that I knew where I might find Him. Behold I go forward but He is not there, and backward but I cannot perceive Him. On the left hand I cannot behold Him; He hideth Himself on the right hand." Then comes that agonizing question; "Wherefore hidest thou thy face". .Job ' s poignant cry.

Man ' s Futile Rttempts Before we speak of To Hide from God a God who hides, may

I suggest that human beings are quite prone to hide from God - from truth, from reality, from duty. That was God ' s first complaint against man. Remember - God came in the twilight, in cool of day to commune with man in the Garden. Unable to find Adam -that episode with the Tree of Knowledge. dam ashamed. "Where art thou?" Adam replied, "I was afraid, and I hid myself ! " Thus a man will try to hide from conscience. Driven by sense of moral failure into shadows and shame.

rv:en try to hide from duty. God speaks -we would ignore the command. Yould escape the imperative voice. ".Jonah! arise and go to Nin­eveh". .Jonah took ship at Haifa and sailed for Tarshish - Pillars of Hercules. You know the story. Great storm. .Jonah overboard. Whale. Still the insistent voice, "Jonah - Nineveh!"

Of course, a man cannot hide from God. He

tti fled Him down the nights and down the days, I fled Him down the arches of the years, I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways of my

own mind And in the mist of tears, I hid From those strong feet that followed, follow­

ed after. But a voice beat, more instant than the feet, ' 1ul things betray thee who betray est .Me ' tt

Francis Thompson "Hound of Heaven"

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is inescapable. No depth so deep, no height so high, no distance so long, no night so dark, that are not accessible to Him. Listen to the psalmist; " hither shall I flee from thy pres-ence ••• "

Man's attempts to hide from God always end in failure. Francis Thompson discoved that.

God Goes Into Hi4ing But here to deal with other fact of life - we must face Job's · uest­

ion - "Wherefore hidest thou thy face?" True to human experience - times when we ask same question. God seems to be in hiding. Withdrawn Himself. fhat does it all mean?

Vhy all the suffering? Earthquake with a tragic loss of life. Ship goes down at sea. A child dies. Where is God? ·var, ghettos, con­centration camps. VJhere is God? Disappoint­ments we don't deserve. ~here is God? Pain and cancer. here is God? On the brink of war again. Vhere is God? vVhere is there any pur­pose? Vlhy doesn't God do something? Why does God hide Himself? That was Job's question and it is ours. God hides His face.

Says the agnostic; "Why bother to look to Him? There might be a God but He is unknowable. Far beyond our limited knowledge. And in any case, if there is a God, He is far too busy to be concerned with your puny affairs. Curse God and die. In any case stop hammering at doors of universe. Be quiet . What is man? Parasite."

Says the humanist; "Be brave. Helpless outside of what you can do for yourself. Better make the best of it. Meet your tragedy and lone­liness with what dignity you can. Build your life on unyielding despair. Be master of your own soul and captain of your own fate. tt

But we are not satisfied. V'ie still cry with Job - "0 that I knew where I might find him" "Wherefore hidest thou thy face?". That heart­rending cry out of dim centuries is our own cry. The person is not normal who is not at some time

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staggered and whose soul is not sometimes chilled by fact that God apparently hides Him­self. ven Jesus had to face this experience. Climbed His Calvary saying "Why hast thou for­saken Me?" The whole universe seems a vast Calvary sometimes - full of broken hopes, spir­itual anguish, physical pain. 'Nhat is the an­swer? Why does God hide His face? lvihat does it all mean? Three suggestions:

The Test of ffaith (1) We do not know all the answers. 'l'he Christian re­ligion does not give us the

answer. ~uite frankly it faces the fact that there are questions that cannot be answered -there are areas of truth forever closed to us. That is, we are faced by mystery - do not know. And the closer we come to God the greater the mystery of God. All knowledge leads to greater ignorance.

Job sensed the fact of mystery. "Thy path no bird knoweth; neither hath the falcon's eye seen". The ways of God are uncharted. Finite cannot understand the infinite. Someone said, and truly; "A God who can be defined is a God who is finished". And mark you, it is not the denial of mystery but the acceptance of mystery that makes for great living. I want a big God. Not a God I can define or place within circle or formula. We do not know the answers - per­haps in etrnity we shall never know either.

(2) We live in a dangerous world. I will not accept suffering as the will of God. After all, God is not a fiend, He is a Father. But He has placed us in a world where dangerous fac­tors operate. That's the price we pay for liv­ing. And, I submit, it is worth the price!

When a boy is given a bicycle he is brought into range of conditions which might involve in­jury and pain. That's the kind of world it is. Run risk of pain; it is a dangerous place. And goodness is' no guarantee of imunity from pain.

( 3) Really, God does not hide. What has happened is that we have lost contact with Him. Like the sun, He shines perpetually. Might be dark to us, might be black storm around - but the sun still shines. God is both the God of the day and of the night - of the sunshine and of the darkness. The darness and the light are both alike to Him. God does not bow Himself out of the universe at sunset.

I do not know why God made the darkness -but He did. Therein lies the test of our faith. Faith in God means being unable to see Him and yet yet to trust Him. That was the great achieve­ment of Job - "I cannot find God; He hideth His face. The light is dim, I am afflicted and tor­mented - yet, He knoweth the way that I take -yea, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."

It is in the darkness we learn to walk. Not by sight but by faith. Character, like a film, is developed in the darkness. It is in the dark­ness, when God apparently has hidden Himself, that faith is tested.

It is in the darkness that eventually we come to learn that as man is forever seeking God, so God is forever seeking man. "He knoweth the way that I take - all will yet be well."

Hide me, 0 my Saviour, hide, 'Til the storm of life be past; Safe into the haven guide; 0 receive my soul at last.

The 18ook for Today

T HE world is searching for an answer. Its problems

are many, its dilemma great. It has been seeking an answer in education, in philosophy, in science. But

our troubled world is still asking. Today many are turning

to religion; they are convinced that religion must furnish the answer, for it must be spiritual. As a result the question comes from every source: What is the answer of religion?

What is the Bible's answer? What does it have to offer for our day?

The individual who seeks an answer by reading the Bible, especially the Gospels and the Psalms, soon discovers that it has very much for the man of . today. It speaks words of profoundest wisdom concerning human relations, words of

comfort and reassurance to the sad and disappointed, words of encouragement to the frustrated and despairing, words of guidance to those who do not know the way, and above all,

words of forgiveness and renewed power to all who place their trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Before the nations of the world-greedy, selfish, brutal­the Old Testament places the complete history of a nation which at one time did serve the Lord and then forgot and forsook Him. That history is a clear demonstration of the prophet's word that, " Righteousness exalteth a nation/' but also of the terrible doom pronounced, "The nation ... that

will not serve Thee, shall perish . . . be utterly wasted. "

The New Testament brings God's final answer to all the vexing problems arising out of man's sinfulness. That answer is Christ. In Him is salvation, victory o~er sin and death .

A. P.H . No. 7122 . Li t ho . in U.S.A.

H1y \'\)ord Shull t1ot 1Pass fiway

FREMONT STREET METHODIST CHURCH Gloversville, New York

Fred Clarke, Minister Minister of Music Janet Price Davis

Church Secretary Grace L. Gifford

Lewis Cunning, Sexton

ORDER OF MOffiiJING 'NORSHIP

ORGAN PRBLUDE - "Ai.f for G String11

CALL TO WORSHIP - By the minister Bach

H\1!]1~ 12 - "Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee 11 Hymn to Joy

Minister: Create in me a clean heart, 0 God; P<.ople: And ronew a right spirit within me .

Minister: Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; People: And uphold me with thy fr oe spirit.

Minister: 0 Lord, open thou my lips ; People: And my mouth shall show forth thy praise.

DOXOLOGY - To be sung by all

* SCRIPTURE LESSON - Psalm 139:1-18, 23, 24 SOLO - "Lord, NJako Me Strong" PASTORAL PRb.YER LORD'S PPJ~YER - To be said by all

Eville

* berger ORGAN OFFERTORY - "Lord J esus Wa lking on the Sea" Wein­PRESENT.;.TIOU OF TITHES JJJD OFFERINGS HYMN 70- "The Lord's my Shepherd11 Avon

SEillv10N - " I ... GOD V'IHO HIDES"

H'Th1N 73 - "Be still my soul" Finlandia BENEDICTION - By the minister ORGJJJ POSTLUDE - "Ca. thedral Fuga in E Minor" Bach * Interval for Ushering

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We extend a we lcome to all our visitors.

JULY 25, 1948 - CALENDbR FOR TODAY

10:30 Morning Worship and sermon - "A God Who Hides''. Tenor soloist, I~ . Gray Taylor.

7:30 Union Evening Service on the lavm of the Kings­bore Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Lawrence Larrowe, minister of the North Main Street Meth­odist Church as the preacher. In case of inclem­ent wee. ther the s ervice will be inside the church.

All:t-TOUNCEI!lENTS

A CABINET MEETD~G of the Couples Club will be held Monday evening at 8:00 at tho home of Robert Wempl e .

CONGRATUI.J\.TIONS and best wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Arch Rogers of 3 Pleasant Street, who on Monday celebrate the

50th anniversary of their wedding. The home will be open on Monday from 3 to 5 and from 8 to 10.

i,LTAR FLO'tlERS today are given in memory of Mrs. Ethe l Trevett by her family.

MID-VV'EEK SERVICE will be held on Wednesday evening with Nrr. Clarke in charge. Everyone is invited.

WERNER WORKERS will picnic at Moyer3 Park on Satur­day afternoon at 5:30. Bring covered dish and service.

ON TO CA~~ AND INSTITUTEl Betty Jane Ardizzone and Mo.ry Lou Hemenway lee.ve for -Riverside this .. afternoon. Mr. o.nd Mrs. James Thompson provide tho transportation. Ron­a ld Ardizzone, Donald Cole, Ronald Cole and Lee Taylor will leave for Camp Mohawk on Wednesday with Mr. and Mrs. Munl ey Williams furnishing the transportation.

. THREE Sill.!MER UNION MORNING SERVICES with 1st Baptist, 1st Presbyterian and Fremont-street Methodist churches uniting will be held according to the following schedule: Aug. 1 - 1st Baptist; i;..ug. 8 - Fremont; Aug 15 - lst Pres­byterian. Let us attend and also bring our friends.