When God Seems To Hide His Power

“ ..and there was the hiding of his power.” – Habakkuk 3:4

It is amazing to read these words incorporated in the whole paragraph, which says –

“His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand;”

Then it says,

“and there was the hiding of his power.”

Very interesting, isn’t it? But this declaration is true. There are times when God hides His power. When God hides His power, it could mean that our prayers are not answered. These are the times that we seek for deliverance, provision or answers and yet nothing came. We are disappointed and disheartened. How could God do this? It is because this is the time He is hiding His power. Habakkuk can relate as he admits that God hides His power and what he see was the “tents of Cushan, in affliction” (verse 7) and the “land of Midian did tremble.” This is also the time when “the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of olive shall fall, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls” (verse 17). We asks, “Where is God?” “Where is his answer to my plea?” This is an example of the hiding of his power.

Habakkuk started to investigate by asking “Was the Lord displeased against the rivers?” Truly, this is the time we ask if the Lord is displeased to us about a certain thing especially how we deal with the former provisions we have. In Habakkuk’s case, this pertains to the river Cushan and Midian. And yet, it was cleared out by Habakkuk that God is not displeased to the rivers since God even uses the river to cleave the earth to the amazement of the mountains (verses 9 and 10). This impies to us a lesson that you could be wrong in assessing things and judging any thing in your life based on your own perception. You maybe wrong of pointing the blame to something or to someone. You maybe wrong of complaining about something when it is actually the very thing that God is using to strengthen you.

Yes, when God hides His power- we are troubled, uncertain and disappointed and yet there is a good purpose why at times He hides His power. I want to share to you three dynamic and radical truths about this verse.

Not seeing the manifestation of power doesn’t mean there is no power.

Not seeing the wind doesn’t mean there is no wind. Not seeing the electricity doesn’t mean there is no electricity. This is where we go wrong. We thought that because we don’t see our prayer answered or our expectations met then we thought God has no power to change things. We are wrong. God hiding His power doesn’t mean He is powerless. You cannot just see it but it doesn’t mean the power is absent. The truth is, this power is working all through out for our good though we cannot see it.

You may not see the actual answer to your prayers but all the events, people and things are all conspiring as God is busy arranging all things for the answer to your prayer- in due time to be fully revealed.

God sometimes hides His power but He never hides His love.

It says that there is the hiding of His power but it didn’t say the hiding of His love. There is nowhere in the Bible that implies that He hid His love. The Bible declared that God openly showed His love when Jesus died on the Cross. We should not misjudge God when times are not all fine. When things don’t go as we expect it, we should not say that God doesn’t care or doesn’t love. He loves us all the way. What He is hiding is His power but not His love because He has a bigger plan to unfold.

And take note of this that even in this occasion of hiding of his power is the indication of His love. This can best be illustrated when the parents experience a problem in the family and a father has no power to change or control things. The father cannot use his power but it doesn’t mean that he has no more love for his family. This was also even experienced by God. God withheld all of His power when He allowed man to hurt and nail His Son on the cross. He withheld His power so that His love can be fully showed. This is what God endeavored since He created mankind, He wants to show that He is not just the God who is full of power but He is the God who is full of love In fact, He is love. Calvary is the epitome of His love though that it is the deepest example of withholding His power.

He hides His power because life is not based in sight but in faith.

When He hides His power, does this mean that you will not believe in His power?

Trust in God. It is in the time of hiding of His power and not in the revealing of His power that gives you the opportunity to show your faith in God.

- A r t  R o y  R e m y