Why does all great God feel the need to hide and be silent? WHy doesn't he appearin the sky or whatever every now and again and say "Im happy with this , im not happy with that or whatever."
Yet he chooses to remain silent and invisible through everything including wars where untold millions die.
Well. why does he stay hidden? Is he embarrassed of his small calves or something?
It's not an easy question to answer for nonbelievers, but I'll try.
In scripture we see instances of God appearing before men in the OT (in the form of the pre-incarnate Christ). We read of the journey of the Israelites and the mobile temple and the spirit of God that moved as a cloud along with them. We see God manifested in pillars of fire and represented by his heavenly host. Certainly our most significant example is the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ here on earth.
Still, what truly changed folks has occurred in God's current and third act that we're now living in and has extended from the events of the books of Acts. Since that time, the followers of Christ are literally indwelled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God lives within believers....he's attached at our souls if you will.
It was the Holy Spirit that arrived at Pentecost that truly changed Christ's disciples. It's also an element of scripture I find extremely quaint. Jesus tells his disciples that when he has returned to the divine the Father would send "his helper". His "helper" or advocate is the Holy Spirit. The third person or expression of God's divine nature. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead was referred to as "a helper" LOL....I love that.
It was at the Festival of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit arrived and indwelled Christ's believers for the first time. Literally, the Holy Spirit of God began to live within the believer and began a glorious change in each individual...a work of sanctification that left each believer radically and irrevocably changed. It was here that the disciples went forth with boldness and courage and through the Holy Spirit's inspiration and guidance began to perform incredible works in Christ's name and began fulfilling the great commission leading folks to Christ so that they too could be indwelled and emboldened by the same Holy Spirit of God. Their perceptions of this life changed almost instantly and their hearts became desirous for the the Lord's will and not their own. The tangible presence of the Holy Spirit was made manifest for all believers and the reality of God's existence forever known.
It's within this sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that our faith matures, solidifies and becomes something different. Not blind, but concrete and confident, but full of love and hope and peace and a desire for others to understand the same. I can help lead folks to Christ, but they must want to follow and seek him in humility with a heart desirous to know him. A desire to turn from those things that are considered sinful by the one and only soverign God.
Today some believers are still honored enough to receive divine manifestations of Christ. Some in dreams and visions and others whom he has appeared to suddenly per his will and good purposes. Divine appointments per his angelic host are also common today. It's so easy for so many to say, "Oh, God lives in you today so we don't see him because of that....that's convenient!" That notion of convenience is just based in simple ignorance, but it need not be so. I try and attest regularly of the Holy Spirit's divine influence and power in my life and proclaim to anyone that will listen that Jesus Christ is alive, the Holy Spirit is with believers today and the Father still sits on his throne.
Seeing God simply isn't enough to convince folks. We see demonstrations of this in scripture. All sorts of folks witnessed the miraculous before their eyes and yet were not convinced of anything....both old and new testaments show this. Even the disciples that followed Christ from place to place experiencing these impossible situations still remained in doubt and fear. Christ outright told his disciples he would be taken, killed and would rise in three days and despite all they had seen their reaction wasn't one of confidence....it was fear. They constantly questioned Christ, they demonstrated that their faith was weak, they quibbled over who was the greatest and after all they saw, experienced and learned directly from Christ they fled in fear when put to the test. Seemingly the greatest of the disciples in Peter outright denied Christ repeatedly. And even after Christ's resurrection and fulfillment of all he had promised, he appeared before his disciples and yet Thomas (who would arrive later) still rejected the words of his constituents and refused to believe unless he put his hand in Christ's wound and saw his wounds with his own eyes. As Christ would later tell Thomas, blessed are those that believe, but have not seen. The "blessed" that Christ refers to are his body of believers today.
God is very much active and prominent in my life and the lives of so many, many others. It's why I post the way I do because I desire for others to experience the same joy and blessings that I have. I'm not different from any of you....I've just surrendered of my myself and chosen his will instead of my own. The revelation of him in my life after that time has been astonishing! Feeling connected to the living God, the creator of all there is, is an awesome experience and having that connection is much grander than seeing him. Literally experiencing his presence and feeling his love and grace and mercy and power.....that's what it's all about and that's the same power that changed Christ's disciples!
