{"id":65186,"date":"2019-11-04T23:40:48","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T21:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65186"},"modified":"2023-05-28T18:39:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-28T15:39:17","slug":"faithfulness-in-the-face-of-the-concealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/faithfulness-in-the-face-of-the-concealed\/","title":{"rendered":"Faithfulness In The Face Of The Concealed"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[384,506,491],"acf":{"old_id":"65186","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"342","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Despite God\u2019s hidden face, God\u2019s luring love is pervasive and never calls retreat","content":"

On the surface (!) of the concealed, Isaiah proclaims an act of courage and depth. He notes that God has become hidden, yet the Prophet affirms that he will persist in hope and patient affirmation nonetheless. \u201cSo I will wait for the Lord, whose face is hiding from the House of Jacob, and I will trust.\u201d Note the paradoxes of Isaiah\u2019s claim: he sees that God is hiding, even though that means God is now invisible. In this game of cosmic hide-and-seek, Isaiah pledges that he will continue to seek, even though there is no one to find in the present moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hester Panim<\/span><\/em>, God\u2019s hidden face, is a recurrent trope in prophetic literature. It provides an answer to the perennial question of why bad things happen to good people: because God is hiding, and so are God\u2019s ways. The world we live in is not one in which God is immediately visible. We cannot equate everything that happens with the fulfillment of a divine mandate (that means that it isn\u2019t all for the best). God is hidden, under the surface, biding God\u2019s time. But Isaiah knows that the superficial is not the level to locate God\u2019s priorities. Spare us the sermons that identify the recent earthquake\/fire\/tsunami with the sins of your favorite target!<\/span><\/p>\n

As theological solutions go, <\/span>hester panim<\/em> <\/span>is light years better than the judgmental voices eager to condemn whatever actions (or people) the self-appointed Defenders of Religion want to insult. But we need more. A God who chooses to let the suffering go is still answerable for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can we read Isaiah on a deeper (hidden) level? What if the prophet is hinting that God not only doesn\u2019t intervene to prevent the natural consequences of actions, but also can\u2019t? Maybe God\u2019s face is hidden because there is simply no other way for creation to have its own integrity, for creatures to be able to grow and develop their own capacities. For us to have some self-determination, God must withdraw from the surface of action.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean that God is absent. Isaiah also affirms that on the level of trustworthiness, faithfulness, that is to say meaning and purpose, there the God of Israel is to be sought, and found. We find God not in the earthquake, but in the resilience of life to renew, in the hands of the people who rebuild and lift up the victims. God\u2019s luring love is pervasive and never calls retreat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Isaiah knew that if we look for God in special effects and in superficial disasters, we will find only hiddenness. But if we go deep, if we approach God in resilient patience and hope, we can reveal a light so bright that will shine a path of liberation and bounty for us, just has it has across the ages.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65187,"id":65187,"title":"is8-hidden","filename":"is8-hidden.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is8-hidden.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/faithfulness-in-the-face-of-the-concealed\/is8-hidden\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is8-hidden","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65186,"date":"2019-11-04 21:40:25","modified":"2019-11-04 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