Sometimes it seems as though God plays hide and seek with humanity. A recent article by Russell Moore about the late Frederick Buechner got me to mulling that over. Both Buechner’s novels and speculations about our faith such as Listening to Your Life or Whistling in the Dark contain narratives about doubt and the hiddenness of God.
It says in scripture that no one has ever seen God (John 1:18, Ex. 33:20). Not only is he invisible but He also seems to play tricks on us in speculating about who we think He is. The long dialogues in the book of Job seem to point toward that.
I have many friends who appear quite certain that they know God intimately. Not only that, but they believe in the inerrancy of scripture. The past few years I’ve rarely felt convinced of either one. I currently talk to God all the time–and I believe He is listening. And twice He answered me. Now which part of the Triune God answered I’m not certain. When I had my “born again” experience in 1979, I think it was Jesus. I read the “Sinner’s Prayer” in a book by Tim LaHaye and He answered it in a very dramatic fashion.
In any event, it is Jesus who came to put a human face on God. And it is the Holy Spirit who connects us to all the parts. At least that’s what I currently believe about the HS. And I think it’s Jesus who we can know intimately. Do we access that intimacy most thoroughly thru scripture or thru prayer? I don’t have that answer. Perhaps it’s an individual thing.
Moses asks God to show him His glory in Exodus 33 and God shows him His goodness (His abundance) but doesn’t allow Moses to see His face. No one sees the face of God and lives. That begs the question why. And yet it seems that all of scripture is God revealing Himself to mankind.
It seems to me that God’s hiddenness is deliberate. He is a mystery that we must pursue. If we were given all the answers up front would existence have any point? The Bible would be quite short, probably less than 100 pages. God gave intelligent people insatiable curiosity. Einstein said, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”
Many years ago, I prayed passionately again and again for the “WHY” of it all to be revealed to me. And then one day there it was illuminated in a passage by the 19th century writer and clergyman George MacDonald and his comments on the opening lines of the Gospel of John: “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” God the Father made the earth and all of creation for the Lover part of Him, Jesus, to have something and someone to love.
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