Why is God so Hidden?

No. 2 in the Series, Most Frequently Asked Questions About God

Why do people have so much trouble finding God? Why is there so much debate on whether or not there is a God? Why are there so many questions concerning God? Because God is so hidden (Isaiah 45:15). We cannot see Him, we cannot hear Him, we cannot touch Him. If He were to appear to us, stand in front of us, and talk to us, then we would say, “O God, now I know that You are real.” Since He has not appeared that way, we are all left wondering.

God Is Spirit - Invisible to Human Eyes

The Bible tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24). Spirit is intangible and invisible to the physical senses. God is in a different realm than we are in. It is impossible for us to see radio waves. We need a proper device, such as a radio, to sense radio waves. It is the same in contacting God. We need the proper organ—the human spirit—to contact God (John 4:24).

Man Has a Spirit—an Organ to Contact God

God made man with three parts—the spirit, the soul, and the body. The body is for contacting physical things, such as food, water, tables, chairs, etc. The soul is for contacting psychological things, such as thoughts, love, hatred, etc. The spirit is for contacting God, who is Spirit. We were raised on physical and psychological things. We are used to using our body and our soul. But we were never taught to use our spirit to contact God—we do not know how. God is hidden only to our body and our soul, but God is not hidden to our spirit. We can learn to contact God with our spirit. Then we will say that God is not hidden, but rather, is as available in our spirit as air, water, or food. We cannot see sound with our eyes, but we can hear it with our ears. We cannot receive radio waves with our ears, but we can use a radio to receive them. We cannot touch the fragrance of a flower, but we can smell it with our nose. Similarly, we cannot see God with our eyes, hear God with our ears, or touch God with our hands, but we can contact God with our spirit.

God Reveals Himself in Four Ways

Although God Himself has not appeared before our eyes, we need to consider if God has used other ways to manifest Himself. Perhaps God is poetic and does not reveal Himself so plainly, but chooses other means to hint at His existence. Maybe God tries to hide Himself so that only His true seekers will find Him. We have found that God uses four ways to show Himself to man.

The universe displays to us the handiwork of God, the Bible reveals to us God and His purpose, Jesus Christ manifested to us the person of God, and the true believers express God.

The Universe Displays God's Characteristics and Power

The universe is God's handiwork displaying His power, His glory, and His characteristics (Romans 1:20), (Psalms 19:1). Nobody really knows the size of the universe. The immeasurable size of the universe tells us that the power of the Creator is even greater. The shining of all the stars is merely a shadow of all the glory of God. What brightness and shining we would see if all the stars of the universe were put together! Yet God's glory is even greater than that. According to the Bible, all the creatures on the earth, including man, express God's characteristics. Vegetable life shows the beauty of God. Animal life shows the liveliness of God. Human life, created in the image of God, shows the divine attributes of God, such as love and righteousness. Air points to God as the atmosphere in which man can live continually. Water points to God as living water to quench and satisfy the thirst of man. Food points to God as nourishment and strength to man. The universe displays not only the existence of God but also His power, glory, and characteristics. This universe is full of the fingerprint of God.

The Bible Reveals God and His Purpose

The Bible, the Word of God, tells us about God, His eternal purpose, His heart's desire, His creation, His relationship with man, and His salvation (Genesis 1:26), (John 4:14), (John 6:57), (Luke 24:27), (Ephesians 3:9-11). Whatever we need to know about God is recorded in the Bible. The Bible is thick and hard to understand, but anybody with a seeking heart spending time to study the Bible will find out everything he needs to know about God because He is fully revealed in it.

Jesus Christ Manifested God

Jesus Christ was God become man who lived on the earth 2,000 years ago. He was God expressed, God manifested, God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). He expressed God's love and God's righteousness. He was tender and kind to the people around Him. He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and delivered the oppressed (Matthew 14:14), (Mark 8:2-3), (John 8:11). He was the fullness of God in a human body (Colossians 2:9).

It is true that He was still somewhat hidden. He was born in a manger, raised in lowly Nazareth, apprenticed as a carpenter, and endowed with an unpleasant physical appearance (Isaiah 53:2). According to our natural expectation, God should have come in glory and full of power, with thousands of angels flanking Him on both sides. His voice should have been like thunder. His face should have been shining like the sun. This is why it was hard for the people of those days to recognize Him as God. They did not realize that God had to come in a lowly way to be our friend and to save us (Matthew 11:19), (Luke 19:10). Later, He will come the second time in full glory as the King of kings, but by then it will be too late (Luke 9:26). Today we have to see Him with our spirit as the glorious One.

True Believers Express God

When people believe into Christ, they receive God's life into them. They can be like Christ, expressing God (Philippians 1:21), (Galatians 2:20). It has been a problem that most believers have not expressed God by living in the life of God. They still live in themselves by their natural fallen sinful life. There is jealousy, strife, envying, division, and even greed among them, and God remains hidden to the world (1 Corinthians 3:3), (1 Corinthians 1:10), (1 Timothy 6:10). There are some, not many, believers expressing God on earth today. By contacting and living by God in your spirit, you can become one of them expressing God.

You Can See God

Some say, "If you can show God to me, then I will believe in Him." However, God is not going to show Himself to physical eyes in this age. He is revealing Himself to the spirit of the people seeking Him (Ephesians 3:5). You cannot see God with your eyes, but you can see God with your spirit. To believe without seeing Him with physical eyes is more blessed (John 20:29). God's desire is not only to reveal Himself to your spirit, but to come into your spirit and live inside of you (Romans 8:11). This is why He created man with a spirit; He wants to come into your spirit to be your life.

The way to use your spirit to see God is to talk to Him and say:

"Lord Jesus, I want to see You in my spirit. I want to contact You. I want You to reveal Yourself to me. I want You to come into me and live in me. Thank You, Lord."

If you speak to Him in this way, He will be hidden from you no longer.

*All quoted verses taken from "The New Testament Recovery Version Online" at http://online.recoveryversion.org, Copyright © 1997-2012 by Living Stream Ministry.