Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t make Himself more obvious?
Have you wondered why He doesn’t write His name in the clouds so they say, “I Am God and I Exist! Believe in Me!” or call out to us with a booming voice from heaven, or simply just show up in all His splendor and glory?
Even when He did come in the person of Jesus Christ, He came masked in human flesh, cloaking Himself in humility and frailty.
Why does God do this?
Why does God hide?
Why doesn’t God make Himself more … obvious?
I have been thinking about this off and on for … well, just about my whole life.
I remember in my teens reading Romans 1 where Paul says that God has revealed Himself in nature so that men are without excuse, and I remember thinking, “I don’t know about that … I see evidence of God in the beauty and complexity of creation, but I also see a whole lot of evil. God’s existence and management of the universe is not obvious. If God had wanted to make Himself obvious, He should have spelled out His name in the stars or something. God should show up every 50 years or so just to prove to each generation that He is still around.”
I know that many people think that this is what God IS doing through answer to prayer, and daily blessings, and so on, but in our more honest moments, I think all of us wish that God would make His existence more obvious.
(Of course, probably no matter what He did, we humans would still explain it away somehow… we have an amazing ability to ignore what is plainly set before us… but this is a tangent I won’t follow…. )
We all want God to just jump down out of heaven and show up in front of us, and shout, “I’m here! I know what you’re going through! I have heard your prayers! I am with you! I will help you!”
But He doesn’t.
I want God to hit me over the head with a two by four!
I remember as a pastor standing out side of my house with a man from the church who struggled with alcohol. He had just come off a drinking binge and was standing there in my yard repenting and confessing and wondering if God still loved Him and forgave Him even though he had failed God AGAIN!
I kept trying to reassure this man that God will always love him and forgive him, but he wasn’t taking my word for it, nor did he want Scripture verses. He wanted God Himself to show up. He kept saying, “You know what I need pastor? I need God to hit me over the head with a two by four. I just want God to cold-cock me. To lay me flat out on my back!”
He and I were talking next to our wood pile (we heated our home with fire wood) and there was a two by four sitting right on top … it was about four feet long … perfect for knocking someone over the head. He pointed to it and said, “See that two by four, God? Come on! Hit me over the head with it! Right now! If you exist and if you love you me, knock me out!”
God never did, of course …
But I almost reached out and picked up that two by four and hit this man over the head. I came so close. He would have gotten angry and asked why I did it, and I would have said, “God told me to.”
I didn’t do it, though.
One reason was because I was afraid I might kill him, and the other reason is because I was pretty sure he had a gun in his car. I was afraid that if I hit him over the head, he might shoot me …
The point is that I think that in our more honest moments, all of us feel like this man.
We desperately need God to show up, and He doesn’t.
God never seems to show up when we most need Him to.
At least, He doesn’t show up in any way we can discern.
We’re even willing to suffer violence at the hand of God if He would just stop hiding from us!
But instead, God always seems to be Missing in Action. Distant. Giving us the silent treatment.
It is so frustrating.
And many of us end up feeling like we have offended God. That He is angry with us and wants nothing to do with us any longer.
Why Does God Hide?
Anyway, I have recently realized why God hides … Why God does not make Himself more obvious … Why He doesn’t write His name in the clouds or knock us over the head with two by fours.
God hides Himself because God loves and respects us so much.
If God revealed Himself to all humanity in the way that we want, we would have no choice to believe in Him and follow Him.
If God showed up in all His power and glory — if we survived this appearance (which we probably wouldn’t) — we would be forced to submit to Him.
And God never forces Himself on anyone.
God does not want to force people into believing in Him.
He has no desire to make people follow Him against their will. God wants us to love Him, and He knows that love cannot be forced.
If He showed up in all His power and glory, it would akin to a man holding a gun at a woman’s head and screaming at her, “LOVE ME!” We call that rape.
And God is not like that. God does not rape.
He knows that forced love is not real love. And more than anything else, God desires real and genuine love from us.
God knows that if He were to reveal Himself to us the way most of us want, we would be forced into loving Him.
Terence Fretheim in his book, The Suffering of God, states this point brilliantly:
For God to be fully present would be coercive; faith would be turned into sight and humankind could not but believe. For God to be loved by people for God’s own sake, without being forced into it, requires a measure of human autonomy. Too direct a divine presence would annul human existence as a flame kills a butterfly. God must set people at a certain distance from God; whatever the intensification of presence, there must an element of ambiguity. God’s presence cannot be obvious.
Yes, this is why God hides. This is why He withdraws. This is why He retreats.
Because He loves us.
But even from afar, He is not silent.
Though He wants us to love Him, He first loved us, and love is not silent.
And then He woos.
He calls.
He sends “secret admirer” gifts.
He writes mysterious love notes.
He writes love songs and records them on our hearts.
Then He waits. And He hopes.
He waits for us to seek Him.
He hopes that we will search for Him.
And when we do, He begins to reveal Himself in new and exciting ways that He could not do before.
So do you want to see God? Look for Him. He is not obvious, but He is there.
And when you seek for Him, you will find Him, when you seek Him with all your heart.
God is not so hidden that He cannot be found.
Warning don’t practice this as a Friend, Parent or Spouse
Thanks! This is something I think about quite a lot. My attempt to answer is that God reveals himself through Christ. So if God is something like pure mind then just as I cannot show you my mind I can only show you my body and my actions/words so does God reveal himself through Jesus. So why doesn’t Jesus show up more often? Well I have heard people claiming to see him in vision. But other than that… I’m not too surprised. Just like in Mark, where we have Jesus hiding his identity, I imagine he does so even now. Not so much because it’s about love but it’s his nature to do it that way. Obviously human nature finds it very counter-intuitive.
What is counter intuitive is to look for God in theology
It’s straightforward: God puts His Spirit in true believers. You can see Jesus and God in them. He expresses Himself through them.
Isn’t easier to just look for God in existence?
Of course! But many get worried when they can’t find Him.
The problem could be in what they’re looking for or the assumption who they have to be in order to see what they’re looking for.
Yep. Which is exactly why I wrote the post. It is one explanation (of many possible ones) for why people cannot see God when they look for Him.
Sometimes looking for presence is not the way to find it
I think He is obvious in the fact that what we need to know about God can been seen in Jesus. But it is not so easy to see the personality behind the words in the gospel, so we have to look for it…….then when you know Jesus then you can experience God better and you can test all against His personality for truth.
This is great. I think you have a good handle on this subject matter 🙂
I really felt great and exciting while i was reading ur mail..as i always asked this question to myself y GOD doent reveal Himself wen we really need Him.Now i hv understood the fact .
But i didnot understand dis which u said dat God did come in the person of Jesus masked in human flesh..as per me( im not sure of my knowledge) its written dat He send His only son so dat he wil die for us (did u mean the holy spirit)
Nice piece Jeremy. You made many points that I agree with. I might add a couple of things. I would add…..when people want God to manifest Himself, and to make Himself ‘obvious.’ What specifically do we mean? A visual manifestation of some kind? Since God is omniscience, omnipotent, omnipresent…..how should He manifest? A Miracle? Sending an angel? We see accounts in the bible when angels(messengers) appear to others, and they are struck with great, awesome fear. Fear that more than likely none of us have ever experienced. And yet, such accounts still pertain to a CREATED BEING filling people with wonder and awe. Most of the ‘miraculous’ ways of God manifesting, if He were to perform them, couldn’t most of those feats have been performed by a created entity(powerful angel)? Perhaps God doesn’t want us to choose Him based on things that someone other than Himself could also perform. Not that there aren’t exceptions, we’ve seen miracles in the Bible, but normatively, perhaps He wants us to choose Him based on attributes He uniquely possesses? His character and love as expressed in both the old and new testament, and most perfectly in the person of Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah. Does God want us to choose Him based on something that might be explained as a ‘magic trick’? A spectacle that makes us marvel?
Pharaoh turned the staff into a snake, and so did Moses. So if we see a miracle or ‘magic trick’ and follow that, what are we really following? Throughout all of history, I’ve never seen anything like what is revealed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
A feeble collection of half-ass excuses dancing around the simplest explanation of all.
Which is?
Alex why be offensive in a dialogue?
It expressed my honest thoughts with an economy of words, and it laid my cards on the table. Mind you I found the link offensive on multiple levels. I had no intention of moaning about it, but it hardly inclined me to soften the statement. Admittedly I am a crap diplomat at this point in my life.
Jeremy Myers That god is a social construct with no actual entity behind it that could manifest openly. Every one of these mixed apologetics would be easy to deconstruct, and have been by multiple sources if one feels inclined to do a bit of research. But why bother when you can throw a cluster of poorly thought out apologetics and then say that no amount of evidence would convince those that do not buy into it anyhow?
I don’t think you were that offended because you don’t appear to me in previous conversations to be ruled by his emotions Alex
My emotions are a part of me. I try to achieve a synthesis with them rather then having one or the other play the part of master and slave. Both aspects of my being inform my thoughts and actions. I may me a crap philosopher, but I still want to be a lover of wisdom. And that does mean loving the wisdom. hence emotion wedded to reason.
I think Yuri Wijting’s abbreviated description of the incarnation (above) is the best I have ever heard.
William, let me answer for Alex. It is because Alex has been hurt, or has seen some things that, in his mind, have no explanation except it must be God. Perhaps Alex hasn’t had the luxury of being around influences that might show him the rational of a good God. The result in his life, is to strike out, swinging blindly at any who he thinks represents ‘The Evil Puppeteer’. William, if you knew better before you found the the Prince of Peace- congratulations! As for me, because of my past, where there was no mention of God, except to ridicule, I totally understand Him.
“I refuse to prove that I exist”, says God . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLWCGKGIDBw
Existence is God
This is the conundrum Drew Marshall has been wrestling with the past several years in a very public way. Why doesn’t God show up?
We know many people who tell us God does show up in their lives. Some of them tell us Jesus does walk this earth today. Most of these people are the very poor, often homeless people we know. That seems backwards to me. They’re barely surviving, sometimes living under a bush or a bridge. It seems to me that they should be the ones saying “Where is God? He’s abandoned me.” Yet they tell us they see him, often in the person of Jesus, and often disguised as someone else.
Maybe it’s what we are looking for. Maybe we’re looking for writing in the sky, a booming voice speaking from the heavens, or more likely a God who fixes everything when we ask, a God who doesn’t let bad things happen, a magician.
I believe God shows up. But not as the mighty conqueror riding a war horse. He shows up as that still small voice. God is here among us. Indeed, sometimes we have trouble finding him. Many of us have experienced those intractable situations that seem to have no earthly solutions. Shouldn’t God show up and solve and fix those things? Sometimes he does but many times he does not. That would appear to prove his absence, or even that he does not exist. But there are those of us who believe that it only proves that he does not fix all our problems. We are the ones who want to define him as the one who fixes our problems. We want him to be what we want him to be: an old white guy with a long white beard, wearing a long velvet robe and carrying a wand with a star on the end that he can wave and make anything happen. That’s called a fairy tale.
Suppose God created our solar system, then created we humans without eyes and told us to believe in the sun. Could we do it?
Would everyone believe if God wrote to us with the clouds? Or spoke to us with a booming voice? No they would not.
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead right before the Pharisees eyes and they did not believe but instead were more convinced than ever that they had to kill him.
In Revelation it says an angel will fly in the sky urging mankind to repent and yet people will not believe
Even the devil and his spirits believe in God but they believe there is a better way as do many people on earth
If God hides because he “loves and respects,” how do you square that with the God who is nowhere to be seen when the first couple in Genesis eat the forbidden fruit and then promptly appears and immediately curses this first immature couple and kicks them out of the Garden forever, without a chance at repentence? According to Christianity that curse included the spiritual death of many of their future offspring.
How do you also square a hiding God of “love and respect” who shatters the world in the Gospel’s little apocalypses, Paul’s soon coming Lord predictions, and in Revelation?
See Lowdown on God’s Showdown
http://infidels.org/kiosk/article/the-lowdown-on-gods-showdown-86.html
or just the Pauline passages here http://edward-t-babinski.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-apostle-paul-fanaticus-extremus-all.html
Great questions! Ones I hope to be answering in future podcast episodes…
Sorry but saying that if God showed up we would have no choice but worship him is not biblical.
Here is a list of some biblical characters who met God and yet chose to disobey him:
Adam and Eve
Abraham
Jacob
moses
David
The Israelites who saw his glory
Either God wants people in hell so deliberately hides or he doesn’t exist.
People are way too irrational to be “forced” to submit to him if he showed up. People would call it fake, magic, make up crazy stories to deny that if they choose to. People do believe what they want to believe. It’s psychology 101.
Second, so God is so benevolent to mankind to hide himself fearing it would be “forced” love if he showed up, and then literally burn people for not believing in him despite his ultimate absence, while he could’ve saved the whole humanity if he just showed up every now and then? That’s psychopathy on steroids.
“God does not want to force people into believing in Him”. Do you think Jesus(the son) forced people into believing in him? No, he was like “believe in what I say or you’ll be burned”. Granted, that’s sounds like a threat but not *rape*. You seem to be taking it into an extreme and say that’s the only possible way.
God doesn’t have to scream from heavens, wherever that place is, “HEY I AM YOUR GOD BELIEVE IN ME!”. That’s the opposite end of what’s he’s currently doing: utter inaction. There is a whole spectrum he can work on in between. It’s a false dichotomy to think those two are the only options. I can come up with way more subtle yet obvious ways that wouldn’t be “forceful”… and he can definitely think of much better ways than just playing hide and seek.
An 11 year old girl being actually raped cries out for god to save her from the horror of what is presently happening to her.
God says “I can’t do anything right now. Cause I don’t want you to think I “rape” peoples emotions. But i’d be happy for you to pay my highly trained Christian Counselors to help you overcome the trauma with religion as a guide!”
You said ” a lot of feel like the drunk man in your yard!”. Lol. To be honest a lot more of us maybe felt like you. As in wallop him with the 2 by 4 plank. But all we can do is be there for him in our capacity as fellow human beings as God is there for us. To tell you the truth. The plank may have been the shock he needed. Who knows!!? And the only answer any of us has is God knows. Even if the arresting officer didn’t see your point!! Lol lol lol. I,m not advocating violence by the way. But shit very often just happens. And we do are very best to avoid it.
I read the article, Why God Hides From You, and disagree with your analysis. You say God hides himself because we would be forced to love God and that God doesn’t force Himself on people.
How many times in the Bible does God force people to do something that they didn’t want to, force his will on them. Did Moses want to rescue the Hebrews from Pharaoh, NO. Moses even asked God to pick someone else, but God still made Moses do it. Do you think that Mary, if she was given a choice, would have said Yes. No, with the way things were in her time, she probably would have said NO. Again God forced Himself on someone without giving them a choice. These are just two examples of God forcing people to do what He wants, there are many more examples in the Bible.
Next I would mention that Christians already love God, so why hide from them. God can’t force someone to love Him, by revealing Himself, who already loves Him with all their hearts. Why does God hide from those that already believe in, and love Him?
Personally I would be so, so, so grateful if God showed Himself to me. My faith would skyrocket to new heights. I would have even more to praise God for. I would feel blessed, instead of feeling ignored. Just think of the piece of mind, the contentment, the joy, the peace, the happiness, that would fill your being if God showed up in front of you. I can’t imagine how good that would feel. Thanks and God bless you, in Jesus name, Amen
That’s a great piece over there.
I can understand God hiding from nonbelievers so that they might choose to seek out God. I don’t understand God hiding from people that believe in, and love Him. These people already know that God exists. You are right that we want God to show up, but not because we need proof. We want God to show up because we need help. We need the comfort, contentment, peace and piece of mind that God’s actual presence would bring. God’s actual presence would also answer a lot questions like; Does God hear us? Does God love us? Does God answer prayers? I am not saying that I want God to reveal Himself to the whole world, just to individuals independently. God says that He is there for us, will never leave us, but refuses to back up those promises by actually making His presence known. Maybe it’s just me that thinks this. I don’t find comfort in God just saying He is there, walking beside me. How can I be sure about that unless God actually makes His presence seen, heard, or felt? When God doesn’t act, He breeds doubt. Then that doubt kills faith and belief. Thanks and may God Bless You, in Jesus name, Amen.
Hello,
I just read Jeremy Myers article on why God hides from us.
It basically says that God hides so that we will love Him more and draw closer to Him. That showing Himself would “force” us to believe in Him. I already believe in God. How does this equate to forcing me to believe in Him? You can’t force someone to believe what they already believe. God “showing” Himself to believers wouldn’t change anything. Well that is my understanding of belief.
Thanks and God bless you, in Jesus holy name, Amen.