Why is God Hard to Find?

Intro

Start with a story about playing “hide-and-seek” with my kids; I am easy to find

Why isn’t God so easy to find?

Share conversation with kids about “spirit” and “reality”

It is no suprise that many of us will struggle with the hiddeness of God: Why is God so hard to find?

Why doesn’t He just reveal His existence to the world so they would believe?

Why doesn’t He show me His face or let me hear His audible voice?

Why does He feel so distant when I am going through a difficult time?

All of these questions outline the problems we feel from the hiddenness of God

Problems of the Hiddenness of God

The nature and character of God

Transcendant - God is above and beyond our understanding and existence (holy)

God is supernatural; He doesn’t exist in the same way that we do

God is spirit (refer back to my talk with the boys)

God is eternal (not bound to time like we are)

God is beyond

We can’t even begin to fathom the depth of who God is (greater than the sum of all perfection)

God’s ways are higher than our ways

God is unlimited

He is all-knowing (omniscient), all-loving (omnibenevolent) , all-powerful (omnipotent)… and also all-present (omnipresent)

Which leads us to the other side of the coin of God’s character:

Immanent - God has come down to our level to be present and knowable (in some way)

Cf. Psalm 139:7-12.

What a beautiful passage that is designed to comfort us with the presence of God!

Yet it in saying that God is everywhere, it can also lead us to feel like He is nowhere in particular (doesn’t solve our problem of God being hard to find)

God expresses his immanence to us in more ways than His omnipresence

Through His revealed Word

Through sending His Son Jesus into our world

Through sending His Spirit to indwell (and be present) with all who believe

There are answers to be found here, but not before digging closer to the root of the problem of the hiddenness of God

If we don’t dig deeper, these will seem like “pat answers” that do no good

Unmet expectations

Talk about the danger of unmet (and unspoken) expectations in marriage *find a funny story?*

Holding God accountable to our defintions of love and presence

For example, 1 John 4:8 and 16 tell us that “God is love”

This is revelation; we learn about God’s character; He IS love

But we often take a human definition of love and hold God accountable to that standard

Use the example of “A loving God would never… send anyone to hell.”

When we do this, we take an uninspired human thought and hold onto it with the strength of the authority of Scripture

Same is true in the problem of God being hard to find

Scripture teaches that God is our perfect heavenly Father (cf. Matthew 5:48)

We have very specific expectations of what a perfect heavenly father should be (present, close, easy to find)

When those expectations are unmet, doubts arise in our faith

Requires us to be humble in our expectations

If God is love, then HE gets to define what love is, not us

It may very well be true that perfect divine love includes judgement

If God is our perfect heavenly father, then HE gets to define what that role looks like

It may very well include faith to believe in a presence hard to define, or chapters of life when He feels to us to be distant and maybe even uncaring (more on this in a bit)

Who are we to say that the God revealed in Scripture should not be hidden?

Human-focused, instead of God-focused

Our benefit is NOT the most important; God’s glory is

If God existed to serve us, then the fact that He can be hard to find would be a true problem

Like hiring a butler that is never around to help

But that is backwards! We are called to serve God and seek His glory, not the other way around

So to suppose that God has a fundamentally different desire structure - one that locates human beings and their good at the center of all things - is, at best, absurd from a Christian point of view; and, at worst, it is blasphemous. (Michael C. Rea)

We are not at the centre; we are not the object of worship; God is not bound to serve our whims

Requires us to be humble in our service

Just like our expectations, we need to put our own desires aside and seek to serve the Lord faithfully

Even when we don’t always understand, or when He feels far away

If God decides - in His transcendent will and purpose - to seem hard to find, then that is good enough

Wait, pastor! Did you just outline the problem of the hiddenness of God and tell us all to just… suck it up?

Yes! But this is only part of the answer; Scripture has much more to say

Can result in 2 types of crises of faith:

Athiesm/agnosticism:

God is hidden, therefore God does not exist or cannot be known

Dark night of the soul:

God has abandoned me and I feel far from Him

Solutions to the Hiddenness of God

God wants to be found

His desire has always been to be present with His people

When it comes to God being hard to find, we do NOT have to doubt His motives

Adam and Eve -> Abraham -> Israel -> Jesus -> New Creation

Our response is to seek God with our whole heart

Cf. Jeremiah 29:11-14.

Does God feel distant or hidden? Then seek Him

Refer back to my conversation with youth parents; seek the truth

Seek God in Christian community, through reading His Word, through talking to God in prayer

Seek Him with all your heart

Not half-hearted; not just with your mind; with all that you are

God wants to be in relationship with His people

Cf. 1 John 3:1.

Relationships take desire and action:

Not good enough to like a girl, you actually need to ask her out

Displayed perfectly in Jesus Christ

God showed desire for relationship in Creation, then showed desire to renew relationship by sending His Son Jesus

Desire led to action -> Jesus dying for our sins to restore our relationship to God

Asks us to also show desire and ACTION to pursue this relationship

Starts with desire; do you WANT to find God?

Lack of desire is what often leads to the conclusion of atheism/agnosticism

Still requires action; what are you doing to cultivate your relationship with God?

Often (but not always), we can learn to better experience God’s presence

Teach on “silent prayer” as explained by Rich Villodas

“Silent prayer is attentiveness to the presence of God without the need for words… in this kind of prayer there’s no expectation to receive anything. It’s about communion, not transaction.” (Rich Villodas)

Acknowledge distractions ahead of time

Say “Jesus, here I am” when you get distracted (opportunity to rest again)

The goal is to rest and be together with God; not necessarily getting a specific thing out of that prayer time (be open)

As in every relationship, we can have true experiences with God

Nature, worship, reading the Bible, Christian community, strong leading, etc.

Share about my recent experience of God’s presence last weekend

Conclusion

God is never hidden, even when it feels like it to us

Response to athiesm/agnosticism:

Evidence of God displayed through Creation, morality and human rights

God Himself walked on earth in the person of Jesus Christ

Response to the dark night of the soul:

God is near even when we don’t FEEL that He is near

Faith requires trust in the truth of who God is ESPECIALLY when it is not easy

Pray