1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, 5 but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. 7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
A Letter to the Exiles
1 This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:
4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
15 You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” 16 but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile— 17 yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. 19 For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord.
20 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. 22 Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ 23 For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they have uttered lies—which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the Lord.
24 Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 25 “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, 26 ‘The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the Lord; you should put any maniac who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. 27 So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you? 28 He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”
29 Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 31 “Send this message to all the exiles: ‘This is what the Lord says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has persuaded you to trust in lies, 32 this is what the Lord says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the Lord, because he has preached rebellion against me.’”
Deuteronomy 4:25-31
Seek God With All Your Heart
25 After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, 26 I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.
Isaiah 45:15
God Hides Himself
15 Truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel.
Job 23:3-9
Job Looks for God and His House
3 If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say.
6 Would he oppose me with great power?
No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There an upright man could present his case before him,
and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
8 "But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
Matthew 20:20-28
Jesus Came to Serve and Teaches Us to Serve
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
21 “What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said,“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jeremiah and Moses writes that we are to seek God, and when we seek God we are seek Him with our hearts...As Jeremiah writes to the Israelis, God's people have been scattered among other peoples...They are exiled in Babylon...After the Babylons captured their nation only a few remained in their homeland...So the people of Israel are exiled and not near the home or homes...
When we are trouble, we are to seek the Lord our God, and we will find Him if you seek Him with all of our heart and with all of our soul...When we are in distress and troubles and problems have happened to us, then in later days we will return to the Lord your God and obey Him...For the Lord our God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy us or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which He confirmed to them by oath...
As I read the Old Testament God seems to be around His people much of the time...But even to those of great faith, He still seems to hide from us...Isaiah says that truly you are a God who has been hiding himself, the God and Savior of Israel...Job says if only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!...Job was seeking Him and he was in trouble...He looked everywhere for Him, to the north, the south, the east, and the west and God could not be found to help him...
God seems to subtly hide from us...Why doesn't God write His name in the sky above or sign His name in the wind...Then we all could identify and say there is God, My Lord and Savior...But He does not do that...God remains hidden, playing hide and seek with us...
If we knew for sure He was around, how would we treat Him?...Would we treat Him and feel about Him, the same as we do know?...What would our expectations be of Him?...Would we want to live our lives like He wanted us to, if He were so near?...Or would we want Him to make us successful as we see life?...Would our life have more meaning?...And the biggest question is how would we and societies be better, because He was so near to us?...Would we be better at serving and helping others, like Jesus did?...
So I think, one must ask would we seek Him with all our hearts and our souls and our minds if He never hid?...Would we seek Him, if He did write His name in the sky for everyone to see and know that He exists?...Would we seek Him, if we heard Him always singing in the winds?...What if we did know that He was always near us and had complete one hundred percent faith, would we always be thankful and praising Him, or would we wait until we were in trouble to seek Him?...Would we take Him for granted, if He was right there all the time, and fixing every problem that came up in our lives?...I think we would very much expect Him to fix things for us, if we always had Him right beside us...We know that He can fix all things, because nothing is impossible for Him...Believers always want Him near, especially when we need His help...When things are going great for us, we feel good and we often think we need Him less in these times, but the Prophets and Saints know and knew better...Everything in our lives is better when God is near us and with us and in our lives...But the question is would we just expect God to fix all our troubles, if we absolutely new He was with us?...How would we feel towards Him and about Him, when we had a problem and He did not fix it or make our troubles better?...How would we be and how would mankind be if He fixed every problem for us, and solved every puzzle in our lives for us?...
Do we want control of our lives, and in everything we do, or are we ready to everything over to Him?...God gives us free will to control our lives, and we can find temptations and troubles quickly without Him...For He is our moral guide...And in His hiding we recognize there is this great mystery surrounding Him and His Son...Jesus said it was good that He goes away...If we are to trust God, we must understand that it was good for Jesus to leave the earth...Jesus would not lie, so it is better that He is not physically with us...We are to live without Him being a physical friend and LORD right beside us...But He right beside us Spiritually...Every time we bow our knees to cry He is there...Every time we pray He is there and near...
For believers God has revealed Himself to us in the Bible...He has revealed His Son to us and how we are to treat Him and how we are to treat others...Blaise Pascal, the famous mathematician said “In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't.”...If God were our Biggest and Best Friend we might expect an easier life...We might also expect success in our terms and how we view success...If He were so near would we see Him as just a Friend doing miracles?...Or if we got the complete faith and trust would we be so overwhelmed and awed by His very nature we could not do anything, and be so fixed on Him our lives would be frozen in time?...This is why I think we only see glimpses and slices of God...Our Father in Heaven is so complex He can only so us these glimpses, these slices of Himself...We would be completely suffocated, fixated, and completely overwhelmed our lives by His complete Energy, Light, and Spirit of LOVE...
St. Augustine said that "faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe."...By faith we see that the mystery of God is also in the mystery of nature and His creation...We see Jesus in many things throughout our days...I think we see God in these small glimpses and small slices that He gives us each day...The Holy Spirit is nudging us...The Holy Spirit may only come subtly to us and our thoughts...God gives us enough Light to yearn for and seek more of His Presence so that one day we may come before His Son and see His Light and His LOVE...