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. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. He was the fullness of God
in a human body.
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. 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. Later, He will come the
second time in full glory as the King of kings, but
by then it will be too late. 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. 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. 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. 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. God's desire is not
only to reveal Himself to your spirit, but to come
into your spirit and live inside of you. 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. 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.
Bible Verses for Your Reading:
Isaiah 45:15 You (are) a God who hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of Him, both His eternal power and divine characteristics, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world.
Psalms 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork.
Genesis 1:26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over... all the earth.
John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water gushing up into eternal life.
John 6:57 He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.
Luke 24:27 And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, He explained to them clearly in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Ephesians 3:9-11 And to enlighten all that they may see what the economy of the mystery is, which throughout the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things, In order that now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies the multifarious wisdom of God might be made known through the church, According to the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Timothy 3:16 Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh.
Matthew 14:14 He was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick.
Mark 8:2-3 I am moved with compassion for the crowd, because for three days now they have remained with Me and they do not have anything to eat. And if I send them away to their home hungry, they will faint on the way.
John 8:11 Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.
Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Isaiah 53:2 He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, [there is] no beauty that we should desire him.
Matthew 11:19 The Son of Man..., a friend of tax collectors and sinners.
Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.
Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of this one will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Galatians 2:20 It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
1 Corinthians 3:3 For if there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly?
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you..., that there be no divisions among you.
1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all evils, because of which some, aspiring after money, have been led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains.
Ephesians 3:5 Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in spirit.
John 20:29 Jesus said to him, Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.