An old African story tries to explain why God withdrew into the heavens. The Old Woman was pounding her fufu. Each time she hit the Old Man in the head with the blunt end of her pounding stick. The Old Man, tired of being beaten, escaped into the skies above; always keeping His distance. Not bad for an old story. However, it does not contain any biblical truth. God occupies heaven, but also fills the earth. He is everywhere. He loves to be close to His people; lives with us; and in us.
Another old woman (this one in God’s Word) felt that God had withdrawn from her. But one day she heard a rumor that provided her hope, that God had returned and turned His favor toward His people. “Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread” (Ruth 1:6).
James Poitras 