Article December 19, 1914 Issue

From Our Exchanges

[New-Church Messenger]

The Word represents the Lord as being in a secret place. The dwelling-place of the Most High is spoken of as a secret place, and it is said that the Lord makes the darkness His dwelling-place. The question is asked, Why does the Lord hide Himself from man? Why does He dwell in a secret place? Why are His ways in secret? If He desires us to know and follow Him, why does He not clearly manifest Himself and His ways? Is it likely that one who loves us will clothe Himself in darkness and hide in secret places, and make His ways "past finding out"?

Is it not surprising that such questions as these should continue to arise, for that the Lord should hide Himself from any one is contrary to enlightened reason. It is a good sign of the times when it is perceived that one who loves us cannot consistently hide Himself from us, and that one who desires us to follow His ways cannot make them past finding out, in the sense that we can never know anything about them. It is not the Lord who makes the darkness round about Him; rather the erring ways of men, the wrong notions concerning God, are that darkness. The darkness is in our own uninstructed minds, and we ourselves are the authors of that darkness. God is light and dwells in light, but when we turn from that light through rejecting it, it can be but darkness. Again, the ways of the Lord are in secret, because they seem so impossible to us, because they are so different from our ways.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

Special Announcements