Viewing God in Trials

So many authors dealing with suffering and difficulties declare that God never seemed nearer and dearer than when a believer goes through trials. I certainly felt guilty whenever I read that because my view has been different. Many times I convinced myself that I must be doing something wrong because that is not my experience--though I would love it to be.

Imagine my comfort and hope when I read these words, penned by a saint:

"Behold, I go forward but He is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him;

He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.

But He is unique and who can turn to Him?

And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me,

And many such decrees are with Him.

Therefore I would be dismayed at His presence; When I consider, I am terrified of Him.

It is God who has made my heart faint, and the Almighty who has dismayed me, 

but I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor deep gloom which covers me."

Job 23:8-9, 13-17

My soul sang with comfort: Someone wrote what was at the center of my weary heart in words I could not have expressed. In all that the Lord has brought into our lives over the past 3 years, I know that He has deepened my understanding that He is MYSTERIOUS. And if He is not choosing to provide that sense of His nearness and dearness, He has His purposes, and I can rest.

I pray these thoughts will  comfort others who get a different view of God than they expected.