This talk will be a personal response to the question which people sometimes raise with Christians: If God is there, why doesn't he show himself? A sceptical person may say to me: "Look you tell me that I'm supposed to believe in your god. But why should I even believe he's there at all? Maybe he's just a figment of your imagination. I mean, if your god is real and if he wants people to believe in him, then why doesn't he do something about it? Seeing is believing isn't it?"
Everybody who has ever thought seriously about God understands those words. We live in a world where things are constantly coming to us through our eyes and ears. Yes we know that they aren't always reliable. Give me the right drug and I'll see things that other people cannot see. I can be deceived. In theory I could even be deceived all of the time. Maybe everything that I think I can see and hear is just a dream.
But the fact is that in general I've nothing else to go on. Although I know that my senses can be deceived, I have to live as though they are reasonably reliable - that generally, maybe with a bit of help from glasses or a hearing aid, I can hear what others are saying; can see what others are doing. But if that's the case, and if there is a God who wants people to know him, then why doesn't He use these senses?
In response let me firstly remind you that there are things which we believe are real and yet it is impossible for us to reach them directly with just our eyes or ears. For example, there are very small things, like the feet of a fly, which can only be seen with a microscope. We all accept such limitations of sight. We know that there are some things which we can only experience with the help of something else.
Now why shouldn't this be the case with God? I accept this is the case with fly's feet. I don't assume that I should be able to see them with just my eyes. So why should I assume otherwise about God? Maybe by myself I'm incapable of seeing God.
And indeed that is just what Christians say. There is a verse in the Bible which says Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. The verse isn't talking about seeing God but the idea contained in the verse does apply to our discussion. The verse is saying that the human body will always, by itself, be limited in what it can do. It can only cope with things which are like itself. But God isn't like us. So to know him we need something to help us. The Bible says that I need the help of the Holy Spirit.
Now I'm not, this afternoon, going to explain all of what that means. But I hope you see the main point. Not being able to see God is no reason not to believe in him. It may just mean that we need to find help first.
Secondly, let me also remind you that there are things which we believe are real and which can be seen with our eyes, but we've not personally seen them yet. For example, I believe that the United States of America is a real country and yet I've never been there.
Now maybe you would say to me: "ah, but you've seen it on television haven't you?" Well yes I have, but that's just pictures on a screen, not the real thing. Maybe you'd say: "you've met people who have been there." Well, yes I have, but they've only told me about it. I've not seen it for myself and yet I still believe it is real.
The point is that there are things in life which we believe in on the basis of the testimony of others. I believe that America is a real country because other people have taken pictures of it and told me about it. Maybe one day I will test my belief by flying to America. But I'll only take that risk because I already believe what others are telling me.
Now why should this not be the case with God? Why must I assume that I have to meet him personally before believing in him? I don't assume that about lots of other things in life. Maybe God has arranged it so you can only start to know him through other people's words.
And that is what Christians say. I first heard about God from other people. They told me about God and it seemed to me that they were trustworthy people, so God must be real. But then a day came when I knew God for myself, a day like jumping on that plane to America.
Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations In other word, go and teach people what I have taught you about God. Other people will have to hear about God before they come to know him.
Thirdly, there are things which we believe are real, even though we can't see them, because we can see other things which have been affected by them. I suppose the simple example of this is the wind blowing in the trees. But let me give you a more personal example. If someone was to come to visit me at home this evening, then they wouldn't be able to see Christine my wife because she's away. But this visitor would see every reason to believe Christine is real. The visitor could see it through her clothes in the wardrobe; the letters on her desk; and a woman's touch around the home.
Christians say that this is the case with God. You may not see him, but He's left his mark on the world. Marks like the world's brilliant design: its orderliness and the way in which everything has a purpose which it is suited for. Or what about the fact that we look at the things around us not just as food or our environment, but we also admire them for their beauty and loveliness. We find things attractive which serve no direct purpose for us, like a setting sun. Isn't beauty the mark of a creator who made things not just to be practical, but to be beautiful and made us to appreciate that? Sometimes we ask "where did this all start?" Somewhere, there must be something or someone who has just always been there. Somebody eternal. Somebody almighty. Able to make all of this. And I say "somebody" because look at us: we are people. We can love and we can hate. We are moral. We ask questions of ourselves: "“Why am I here? What am I for?" Why do we have all these personal characteristics? Would an impersonal universe, really gather atoms together, to make something personal like me?
The Bible says: 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 men are without excuse. Not being able to see God is no reason not to believe in him. There are other things in life which we know are real not because we can see them, but because we see how they affect other things
But maybe a sceptic would say, "Fair enough. In theory I could believe in God without seeing Him for myself. But if He is there why does he make it so hard?" Let me respond.
Firstly, God doesn't make it easy because we need to recognise how great he is. Here's the way the Bible reports God as talking about himself: 'Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me?
If God made this vast universe by his own power, then how great must God himself be? Our eyes can only take in a minute part of this universe at any one time. How could we then see God? We are too limited simply to see God in our own strength and it is very important that human beings recognise that. You see our great problem is arrogance. We think God ought to pander to us and we show that with statements like "I won't believe unless God shows himself to me!"
The Bible says that God won't help people like that to come to know him. He'll only help those who humbly start to recognise that if he is there, he must be very great, and who then ask that they would be allowed to know him.
Secondly, there is a particular reason why we need humility and that is because of the way we have treated God. You see the Bible says that we little specks of dust, into which God breathed life, have spat in his face and told him we don't need him. And that has left God angry with us.
Imagine a marriage where the wife runs off with another man. How will her husband react? Is he going to ring her each evening just to make sure she's ok? Is he going to pop round for a meal with her and the new boyfriend? No, he's rightly angry. She has despised his love.
Our treatment of God is like that, but far worse. Why can't you see God? Because God is unwilling to pop round to see people who despise him. The Bible looks out upon the whole human race and it summarises what it sees with these statements: There is no-one righteous, not even one; there is no-one who understands, no-one who seeks God. All have turned away
Our ingratitude and our rebellion and our rejection of our maker, as we pursue our own desires, have provoked him to righteous anger. God will only help people come to know him, if they recognise how they have treated him and are deeply sorry.
God doesn't make it easy because we need to recognise why he's staying away from us and we need to be sorry for what we have done to him.
Finally, there is one further reason why God doesn't simply show himself to us and that's because of the danger. God is a God who judges and punishes what is evil. Our rebellion against him is evil. So we are in danger of punishment. God is dangerous to us.
Here's a man, from the Bible, called Isaiah talking about his impression of seeing God. Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty. Isaiah felt like a man about to be destroyed because he had seen God. Because of the way we have treated God, it is now very dangerous for us to see him. So God staying away is a mercy because it means that there is still time for our problem to be dealt with.
One day you will see God on the day of judgement. How can you prepare for that day? Option one: do nothing and go strutting into God's judgement hall explaining to your angry creator how you couldn't believe in him. Option two: take a new attitude today and humbly seek God; be sorry for your treatment of God; ask God to help you to know Him.
Option one ends in disaster. But option two will make you ready to see God, face-to-face. Jesus said that it is his Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life. Seek God through Jesus Christ, and you will live forever.