Section 14
fashion: "These days the Lord is not with us. The meetings are so heavy; those who should open their lips keep them closed. It seems as though the Lord has forsaken us." When I discover myself talking like that, I dare not go on, for I am afraid He will hear me talking nonsense. Brothers and sisters, I long that we might all realize that, since the resurrection of our Lord, the chief discipline for His followers has come along the line of knowing Him as a God who hides Himself. He is in the midst of men, yet does not show Him self to men; He dwells within, yet withholds the consciousness of His indwelling. He is truly in you, and is truly working in you, and working wonderful things, tremendous things; but His disposition is not the disposition of the one we spoke of who loved to make a display. He is a God who hides Himself.
Let me cite another illustration. One evening, when the doors were shut where some of His dis ciples were gathered, the Lord appeared. Later Thomas came along and declared, "Unless I see in His hands the mark of the nails and put my finger into the mark of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will by no means believe." The Lord felt for him in his weakness, and one day He allowed him to see and to feel. Then Thomas