This attitude has always saddened me when I see it. I have never felt that God was hiding or trying to trick me. I had no way of identifying with the feeling, and therefore no way of addressing the problem. I still do not identify with the feeling, but I think I know what I would say now.
First of all, if God showed himself to you, right now, appeared before you where you sit, you could not live. You would immediately be dead. Your time on earth would be over and it would be judgment time. No man can see God and live. His radiance, his perfection, his righteousness, his power--everything he is--cannot be taken in by a mere mortal human. If this hasn't happened, and you are still living on this earth, count it as a blessing. For those of you who already believe, you are here to be a light in the dark. For those of you who do not believe, it is God's mercy that you are not standing before his judgment throne. You still have time to repent and turn to him. Do not squander that time, it is a gift. One that none of us deserve.
Second of all, God shows himself to you every day. Every hour. Every minute. Your heartbeat, your breath, your eyesight, your fingers, hands, nose, ears are all a testimony to a Being more powerful than we can imagine. A baby's laugh, a child's first word, a flower, a waterfall, the sky, the sun, the moon, the universe. It is all proclaiming, shouting to you that God exists, that he is here, and he is powerful, and he is sovereign, and he is loving.
It is interesting to me that we tend to look back on our ancestors with a bit of superiority. They didn't understand what we understand. They were simple. We get it now. We know what's really going on. Our wealth of knowledge has tended to make us think "we don't need God anymore." And yet, if anything, this increased knowledge should only serve to display more clearly that God is real. In a time long ago, they understood that a tree could grow from a tiny seed, but I'm sure it was still quite mysterious to them. Maybe it even seemed magical. But now that we understand so many intricacies of how the process works, how can we even begin to imagine that it could take place without a Designer? In a time long ago they knew people's feet stayed on the ground, but now that we know why, now that we understand gravity and how it works and how it is accomplished, how can the intellectually honest person say it happened completely by chance? DNA? Quantum physics? The smarter we get, the more loudly God proclaims his majesty, and yet the faster we run from him.
If you sit in the corner with your eyes covered and your ears plugged, then you cannot accuse God of tricking you when you do not see him or hear him. You see, God is showing himself time and time again. Patiently, lovingly, plainly, he says "here I am." Make sure that your response to his revelation of himself to you is not to put on a thicker blindfold, or to put more cotton in your ears.
~For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.~Romans 1:20
"If you sit in the corner with your eyes covered and your ears plugged, then you cannot accuse God of tricking you when you do not see him or hear him."
ReplyDeleteGood stuff.