I've Got Your Back

When God Moves Out of Sight

But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?"

— Genesis 50

...and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them.

— Exodus 14

Sometimes a few words tucked inside a familiar Bible story suddenly become the story.

I've read both of these passages many times. Genesis 50 gives us the extraordinary reconciliation between Joseph and the brothers who had once sold him into slavery. Exodus 14 gives us one of the most spectacular events in Scripture: Israel's escape through the sea.

Yet this time I found myself thinking about something much smaller.

Where is God?

Joseph's frightened brothers expect retaliation after their father's death. Joseph answers them with a question:

“Am I in the place of God?”

No.

Joseph has considerable power by this point. He could punish them. He could appoint himself judge and settle some very old scores.

But he knows his place.

And he knows God's.

Generations later, the Israelites face a very different kind of fear. Pharaoh's forces are approaching. The sea is ahead of them. And then something fascinating happens.

The pillar of cloud that had been in front of Israel moves behind them.

God had been showing them where to go. Now He positions His presence between them and the danger pursuing them.

We have a wonderful expression for that:

I've got your back.

There is something reassuring about those words. We don't like wondering what's behind us. We like being able to look forward without constantly turning around to see whether something is coming.

And perhaps that's an image of faith worth carrying with us.

Sometimes I want God out in front where I can see Him clearly. Show me where we're going. Light up the route. Give me some unmistakable indication that everything is going to be all right.

But Israel suddenly had to proceed without the pillar in front of them.

God hadn't left.

He had moved.

That possibility matters during the anxious stretches of life, when we don't see God where we expected Him to be. We can become defensive. Hesitant. Afraid to move. We can spend so much time watching for what might go wrong that we miss the life immediately ahead of us.

Exodus offers another possibility.

Proceed.

The God you cannot presently see in front of you may be guarding something behind you.

And Genesis adds the other half of the lesson. I don't need to occupy God's place myself. I don't have to control every outcome, pronounce every judgment or settle every score.

Joseph knew that.

Israel was learning it.

God is in His place.

And sometimes His place is exactly where frightened people need Him most.

Behind them.

“I've got your back.”

Now go forward.

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