How did God make himself unapproachable to his people?

In symbolic language it is stated that God covered himself with a cloud so that no prayer could come through to him. He has, as it were, enveloped himself in a thick, impenetrable cloud, through which no prayer could pass. The same word, wrapped, is used in Lamentations 3:43.¹ He deliberately acted as a hidden God (see also Isaiah 45:15). This is in total contrast with earlier appearances when the cloud was a sign of God's presence among his people in the sanctuary (see Numbers 9:15; Psalm 78:14). The cloud was now the sign of the great day of reckoning (see Ezekiel 30:3; Joel 2:2; Zephaniah 1:15; Lamentations 2:21–22).² With this symbolic language it is stated that God, the heavenly Judge was inaccessible to supplication. Attempts to pray to him thus appeared futile (see also Psalm 55:2).³