‘Behold, the Lamb
of God’
ide
o amnos tou theou
College Study
64th teaching
2.17.2013
“God’s Invisibility,
part II: Hidden in Silence”
Mystery
Question:
Project
Scriptura: God’s Providence
Review:
What was our subject last week? Does the Bible
assume that doubt is part of the believer’s life? Easy question: what does the
doctrine of God’s invisibility tell us about God? What is a kindred doctrine?
What are the kindred doctrines of invisibility? What is immateriality and
Incorporeality? God is invisible to us as a result of being immaterial. Is
invisibility a metaphysical, moral or non-moral attribute? God’s invisibility
presents a problem with some of the scriptural language we find in the Bible:
what were some phrases we looked at last week which seem to indicate the
visibility of God? What were some of the solutions to these apparent problems?
End
of Review
As we’re going to be addressing topics of faith and
unbelief, belief and doubts, evidence and proof or a lack of evidence, turn to
an appropriate chapter: John 20. All
these things, faith, doubt, evidence are all contained in this one chapter.
This chapter in John’s gospel presents the reader with the significant event of history: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Now note that the Resurrection is at the heart of the
Christian faith. Paul said in 1
Corinthians 15:12-19, “Now if Christ
is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say
that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of
the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our
preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false
witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ,
whom He did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do
not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is
futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in
Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of
all men the most pitiable.”
Clearly, Paul the apostle is saying how essential the
historical event we call the Resurrection is to Christianity. If that never
happened, if Jesus did not historically rise from the dead, then Christianity
is doodoo, our faith is worthless and empty, and Christians are to be pitied.
So your faith hangs upon the
Resurrection of Jesus.
Furthermore, Jesus Himself said that His Resurrection was
the great sign, the one proof, that
He would give to demonstrate that He was the Son of God. We read in Matthew 12:38-40, “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Teacher, we
want to see a sign from You.’ (See the Jewish people in Jesus’ day were
used to studying Moses, and Moses was given signs by God at the burning bush
that would prove that God had sent him to Pharaoh; so Moses had divine signs
that proved that He was sent from God; they wanted signs from Jesus, to prove
that He was from God) But He answered and
said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no
sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of
Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Plainly, Jesus is referencing His own burial and
Resurrection three days later. He says that this is the sign He would give, the idea being to demonstrate that He was
who He said He was and that He was sent from God on a mission of deliverance
(just like Moses sent by God with signs). The Jews wanted proof, Jesus said
“I’ll give you proof when I remain in my tomb for only three days”.
So the Resurrection is huge: it is the heart of
Christianity, without it our faith is worthless, and it is the great sign, the
ultimate proof, that Jesus gave to validate His claims.
Read John 20:1-10,
“Now on the first day of the week Mary
Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the
stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter,
and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken
away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.’
Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So
they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the
tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying
there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went
into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief
that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded
together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb
first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the
Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away
again to their own homes.”
So there is the great sign, the proof of Christ’s claims.
He said He would rise again after three days. The Resurrection is the great
historical evidence that Jesus Christ was exactly who He claimed to be.
Next, consider that the passage addresses a character who
has his doubts. Again, the Bible expects that doubts are a part of human
experience. We have doubts from time to time, but God desires to reveal Himself
to us that we might believe.
John 20:19-29, “Then, the same day at evening, being the
first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to
them, ‘Peace be with you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and
His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to
them again, ‘Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And
when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy
Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain
the sins of any, they are retained.’
“Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of
the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore
said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His
hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails,
and put my hands into His side, I will not believe.’ And after eight days His
disciples were against inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors
being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then He said to
Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand
here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’ And
Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him,
‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed.”
That’s us! There’s a kind of special blessing for we who
did not see the prints of the nails or the piercing in His side. But Jesus
revealed Himself to Thomas visibly to cure Thomas’ unbelief. And if we are
believers, then Jesus has revealed Himself to you, not visibly, but through His
Word and the preaching of it, that your unbelief would be cured, that you might
have faith. That’s the sense of what John writes next.
Notice the last couple of verses: John 20:30-31, “And truly
Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not
written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
So why did John write his gospel account? He says he wrote
these things so that you might have faith, even you who were not there, who did
not see the risen Christ. John’s writes so that we might have faith.
Note the specific biblical usage of the word faith. It’s unfortunate that we in
Western society have the unhelpful phrase: “you’ve just gotta have faith!” or
we hear faith referred to as “blind faith”. As far as biblical faith is
concerned, blind faith isn’t faith at all. The Bible never once urges us to
“just have faith”, as if it’s just some feeling we have to conjure up within
us, and just believe in things that
don’t really make sense or don’t really have any proof. No. It’s entirely the
opposite.
The Bible illustrates what it means by faith right here at the end of John
20. The Bible intends for us to believe, for us to have faith, based upon the evidence written down in this gospel
account. John writes his gospel with the intention of providing proof for
faith. This is written down so that we might have confidence in and trust in,
have faith in Jesus Christ. So there’s no blind faith in the Bible. Rather,
Scripture assumes that faith is based on evidence.
That’s brings us to our subject at hand. We’ve just read
about a specific proof and a specific doubter of that proof but that faith is
based upon this proof. The Resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God,
and the evidence for it, here the gospel account, provides basis for faith.
We’re continuing where we left off in our study of God’s
invisibility and the unique problems it presents. We addressed the problem of
Scriptural Language last week, now we’re going to look the fourth point in our
study of God’s invisibility:
4. The Problem of
the Hiddenness of God
So we finished off last week with an introduction to the
Problem of the Hiddenness of God. This is where the current philosophical
debate has moved in recent times. Now this problem takes the form of an
atheistic argument. The argument basically asserts that absence of evidence
implies evidence of absence, and atheists will take the hiddenness of God to
mean that there is no God at all, and that’s why He is so apparently difficult
to find. The accusation is that man has made up God as a kind of fairy tale,
but that God’s existence is, as you will often hear atheists say, “without a
shred of evidence”. God isn’t really out there, it’s just make-believe. When
they say that, they’re essentially appealing to the Hiddenness of God.
I wanted to find a formal presentation of the argument
against God’s existence based on Divine Hiddenness, so we could understand it
and respond to it. I found a decent presentation in a debate between Dr.
William Lane Craig, a Christian philosopher and apologist, and Dr. Michael
Tooley, an atheist philosopher of religion. One of Dr. Tooley’s arguments in
the debate was based in the Hiddenness of God. He said:
“…the argument from the apparent hiddenness of God… turns
upon two claims. The first is that if it's true that God exists then that is a
very important truth. The second is that if God exists, his existence is by no
means as evident as it could be. So if God exists, he is to some extent hiding
himself.
“Now the first claim probably requires little in the way of
defense since most people, I think, will readily grant that, if God exists,
then that is a very important piece of information. And it is easy to see why
people should take that view. For if God is defined as above, and God exists,
then in the end justice will be done and good will triumph. Moreover if God
exists then there's a real possibility that death is not the end of the
individual's existence. And given that the existence of God has these other
consequences, it seems only reasonable to hold that if God exists, that fact is
a very important one.
“What about the second claim---that is, the claim that if
God exists, his existence is not as evident as it could be? Even most people
who believe in the existence of God will grant that God's existence is not
exactly obvious, since, if it were, people would be no more inclined to doubt
or reject the claim that God exists than they would be to question the
existence of tables and chairs, trees and the flowers, people and animals.
“But while granting this, believers attempt to respond that
there's nothing surprising about this. After all, God is immaterial; he has a
mind and no body. This response, however, does not meet the point. The relevant
claim was not that God's existence could be as evident as that of physical
things. It was rather that the existence of God-or, at least, the existence of an
omnipotent and omniscient person-could be more
evident, indeed, much more evident than it presently is. And this latter claim
can, I believe, be given very strong support, for it's easy to imagine events
that could occur, and which are such that if they did occur, would be
sufficient to convince any rational person of the existence of God…
“For example, we can imagine either a voice in the sky
speaking different languages over different countries, or else a telepathic
communication for all who request it…
“The argument can now be put very briefly as follows: It is
agreed that if it is true that God exists, this is a very important truth. It
has been shown that the world could be such that the existence of God would be
much more evident than it presently is. So if God exists, he is to some extent
hiding his reality from us, and, thereby, is depriving many people of firm
knowledge of a very important truth.
“The crucial question is, "What explanation could be
offered for this fact?" Various answers have been proposed-such as the
idea that it is somehow crucial for there to be epistemic, or cognitive
distance between ourselves and God. I believe that it can be argued that none
of those answers is satisfactory. If that's right, then if God does in fact
exist, his hiddenness is an extremely puzzling fact. In contrast, if God does
not exist, there is of course no problem why the existence of God is not as
evident as it might be.
“The conclusion, accordingly, is that one should accept the
belief that God does not exist, since that is the hypothesis that provides the
best explanation of the fact that God's existence is much less evident than it
could be.”
Or more briefly, as we had heard from Richard Dawkins,
notable atheist author, if he died and found out God was real after all: “Sir,
why did you take such pains to hide yourself?” If God is real, why does He not
reveal Himself more? Is there a lack of evidence or a lack of strong evidence
for His existence? If God exists, why isn’t that important truth more evident
to humanity than it seems to be? Should God make His existence more obvious, or is the seeming lack of
evidence show that reality lacks a God?
So there’s the argument before you. You were tasked this
past week with thinking about how to respond to this argument. What would you say to an atheist who confronted you
with this argument?
(break into two groups, discuss for 15mins and then present
answer)
Other things to consider:
Dr. William Lane Craig, who debated Dr. Tooley and answered
the argument of Divine Hiddenness, had several interesting things to say.
Probably the most interesting reply he made to the argument was when he said in
a separate lecture: “Even if God made His existence absolutely obvious so that
everyone could see that He exists, the question would still remain whether or
not we would place our faith in Him,
in the sense of having a trust in God, a personal love relationship with Him.
Even if it were true that God’s existence was so apparent that everyone knew
that He exists, that still wouldn’t remove the need for faith in the sense of
personal commitment, love and trust in God.” …On the Christian view it’s
actually a matter of relative indifference to God whether or not people believe
that He exists. …That is the biblical view. For God it is a matter of relative
indifference whether or not people believe that
He exists. Rather what God is interested in is building… a personal saving
relationship with us. He’s not interested in just getting us to believe that He exists. He wants us to believe in Him not just that He exists. The Bible says that the demons believe that God exists and they tremble because
they don’t have any saving relationship with Him (James 2:19).”
To me that was pretty mind-blowing. It’s a given that
believing that God exists is a
necessary component of coming to trust in Him for salvation, but note that
salvation is God’s primary concern, not merely making His existence known.
Furthermore, we have to ask: if God made His existence more obvious, would more
people come into a saving relationship
with Him?
It’s perfectly within God’s power to demonstrate His
existence in more obvious ways, with more miracles, more signs and wonders. But
would these lead to more people being saved, or merely more people just knowing
that God exists?
If you survey the Old Testament for example, it’s
fascinating to consider how many miracles were done among God’s own people
Israel. They had tons of signs and miracles done for them and yet we read of
them continually turning their hearts away from God. Oh sure they probably
considered that He existed, as one of many gods in their view. But knowing about God didn’t help them to love God.
Or what about the miracles done, say, in Egypt right in
front of Pharaoh, and yet while Pharaoh may have come to recognize that this
God of the Hebrews existed, he certainly didn’t come to love Him and trust in
Him. Rather, Pharaoh hardened his heart.
We might reasonably suspect that were God to make His
existence more obvious, there might
actually be the opposite effect intended. People might begin to become bitter
at the God who was constantly bombarding them with notices of His existence.
Quite possibly, people might begin to harden their hearts towards such a God of
showmanship, who coerced people into believing that He exists, forcing them to
accept that fact. Thus, there’s no way to know whether more evidence for God’s
existence, while making people believe that
He exists, wouldn’t actually be a hindrance to people trusting in Him for
salvation.
Last thing to consider about the Hiddenness of God: we want
to address the argumentation that says there’s not enough evidence or not strong enough evidence for God’s
existence. So, is there enough evidence for God existence, and is that evidence
strong evidence?
What I’d like to do now is very quickly just list some important pieces of evidence
for God’s existence. These fall into various categories and are used in various
ways, and we discover them in various ways. But we’re just going to write them
out, write out the evidence for God’s existence, so far as we know right now.
So pens out, start listing:
There is the 1. Cosmological argument, 2. the Teleological
argument, 3. the Moral argument, and 4. the Ontological argument; then there’s
5. Experiential knowledge, basically we know that God exists because it is
possible to experience Him and His presence in our lives; 6. Biblical evidence,
this remarkable book is proof of God, as we read in John; 7. Scientific
evidence, basically the scientific accuracy of the Bible, which reveals God to
us; 8. Prophetic evidence, the Bible’s accurately fulfilled prophecies prove
that God is the author of the Bible; 9. Archaeological evidence, which confirms
the historical accuracy of the Bible, which reveals God to us; 10. Manuscript
evidence, which shows that the Bible, which reveals God, has been accurately
copied and preserved; 11. Statistical evidence, which shows how statistically
improbable the Bible, which reveals God to us, is considering the length of its
writing, its various authors, its several languages and its remarkable unity;
12. the Rise of Christianity, which aims to show that the near-instantaneous
rise of the Christian religion out of a hostile region is best explained by God
raising Jesus from the dead; 13. The historical evidence of Jesus Christ, which
I’ve prepared a handout for.
This handout is taken from an article by Norman Geisler:
Early non-Christian writers have confirmed the historicity
of many of the main events mentioned in the Gospels such as: (1)
Jesus was from Nazareth; (2) He lived a virtuous life; (3) He
performed unusual feats; (4) He introduced new teaching contrary to
Judaism; (5) He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; (6)
His disciples believed He rose from the dead; (7) His disciples denied
polytheism; (8) His disciples worshiped Him; (9) His teachings and
disciples spread rapidly; (10) His followers believed they were immortal;
(11) His followers had contempt for death; (12) His followers
renounced material goods (see F.F. Bruce, Jesus and Christian Origins
Outside the New Testament).
The
following chart summarizes the non-Christian source and the events of Jesus’
life that were confirmed:
Non-Christian Sources within 150
Years of Jesus
|
Source
|
AD
|
Existed
|
Virtuous
|
Worship
|
Disciples
|
Teacher
|
Crucified
|
Empty Tomb
|
Disciples’
Belief in Resurrection
|
Spread
|
Persecution
|
|
Tacitus
|
115
|
X
|
|
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
Suetonius
|
117-138
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
Josephus
|
90-95
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
Thallus
|
52
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
X*
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pliny
|
112
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
X*
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
Trajan
|
112?
|
X*
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
Hadrian
|
117-138
|
X*
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
|
Talmud
|
70-200
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
Toledoth Jesu
|
5th Century
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
Lucian
|
2nd Century
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
|
X
|
|
Mara Bar-Scrapion
|
1st – 3rd
Centuries
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
X
|
X
|
X*
|
|
|
|
|
Phlegon
|
80?
|
X
|
|
|
|
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
* implied
Another mind-blowing moment when I read this chart; who
knew that so many facts about the life, ministry and death of Jesus Christ are
attested to as facts outside of the Bible?
*So there are thirteen basic pieces of evidence which point
toward the existence of God. And consider that there’s more than what we’ve just
named. Thomas Aquinas, the priest philosopher, himself came up with what are
known as the Five Ways, five proofs for God’s existence, which we don’t have
time to touch on now.
There is evidence for God, but is this evidence strong?
I think that’s easier to answer than listing out several
pieces of proof. We only have to consider how strong this evidence is by
realizing that we’re living in it. Thethe cosmological argument for example
asserts that the universe had a first Uncaused Cause, which is identified as
God. Thus the whole universe, as well as the earth, is evidence for God’s
existence. Why there is something rather than nothing points to a Creator. So
how strong is the evidence? Well is there any other evidence like this universe
we live in? So far as we know, it’s the only one there is.
What’s more, how strong is the evidence for God? Consider
that the most widely produced, most widespread and most read book in all of
human history just so happens to be the very book that reveals God to mankind.
The Bible is tremendous proof for God’s existence, and it is the Book of all
books.
We can rest assured then that there is significant evidence
for God’s existence. As it turns out, the atheistic argument seems awfully
shallow.
God, though invisible, has revealed Himself through the nature
He has made and through the scripture He has authored. God is not hidden, in
this sense.
Blaise Pascal, Christian philosopher of the 1600s, once
said: “There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough
obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition.” For the one who desires
to seek God, he or she will find all the evidence they need for faith. For the
one who desires to close their heart, to harden their heart toward God, and
purposes to disbelieve, there is enough obscurity so that it cannot be said
that God forces Himself on anyone.
5. The Problem of
the Silence of God
Let’s touch briefly on this idea. We can’t spend
near as much time on it. But the silence of God is a similar problem to the
hiddenness of God. But as the hiddenness of God seems more to be a problem for
the atheist, the silence of God seems more to be a problem for the theist, for
the believer.
Why does it seem sometimes like God isn’t speaking to you?
Why can it seem like you’re trying just to read the Bible and hear from God but
it isn’t happening? This can lead to feelings of distance and isolation from
God.
Heck, even Mother Teresa had feelings like this! She once
wrote: “Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the
emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear…”
First, notice that this isn’t something the Bible itself
doesn’t anticipate. The Word of God seems to anticipate that we’ll experience
times in our life when God seems distant and seems silent. The psalms especially
are full of references to real human experiences of the silence of God.
Psalm 88 reads “But to You I have cried out, O LORD, and in
the morning my prayer comes before You. Lord, why do you cast off my soul? Why
do you hide Your face from me?” Psalm
10, “Why do You stand afar off, O
LORD? Why do You hide in times of trouble?” Psalm 44 cries out with frustration: “Awake! Why do You sleep, O LORD? Arise! Do not cast us off forever. Why
do You hide Your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression?”
We may not understand all of God’s reasons for His silence,
nor may we ever be able to. But here are three practical considerations about
the silence of God:
A. Don’t stop believing
Fox Mulder said “I want to believe”. Can you say that you want to believe? The silence of God,
rather than bringing doubt, can in fact strengthen your faith. But how do you
have faith when God seems silent, when He seems to not be there for you? How do
you get more faith?
Romans 10:17,
this is your fortress in times of doubt, “Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” How do you get more
faith? Perhaps not ironically by hearing from the Word of God. See if God seems
hidden in silence, the best thing to do is look at His self-revelation:
Scripture. The best thing to do when God seems hidden is to look at the book
that reveals Him. And that’s how you get faith.
But that’s the challenge. We live in a culture infected
with biblical illiteracy. Nobody reads the Bible and nobody understands the
Bible. In light of that, it’s no wonder that God seems so silent. How can God
speak if not primarily through His own words? So don’t stop believing but hold
on to the revealing of the Lord in His word.
B. God’s purpose in silence
Consider that if God is silent to you, it isn’t because He
doesn’t love you. God isn’t being cruel to you if He’s silent toward you. If
you find yourself in a “dry” season in your Christian life, realize that this
isn’t God being mean to you.
Oswald Chambers wrote in what is one of the most popular
devotional books of all time, My Utmost
for His Highest, these words: “Has God trusted you with His silence—a
silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers… When
you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate
way possible—with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of
pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If
God has given you a silence, then praise Him… For a while you may have said, ‘I
asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone’. He did not give you a
stone, and today you find that He gave you the ‘bread of life’.
God has His wise purposes in even His silence.
C. Jesus experienced it
Most profoundly we discover that even the voice of the only
begotten Son of God Himself, Jesus Christ, once uttered the words as He hung
upon the cross: “My God, my God, why have
You forsaken Me?”
And so we recognize that far from God being cold and uncaring
in His silence toward you, that He Himself became a Man and experienced the
silence of the Father all on His own. Jesus understands the silence of God. He
experienced it when He took the sins of humanity upon Himself and was separated
from perfect fellowship with the Father.
This alone should come as tremendous assurance and comfort
to us, whenever we seem to be experiencing the silence of God. We must remember
that Jesus Himself, the Son of God, came and experienced it just like we do. Again,
God is not cold or uncaring or cruel in His silence. He even went so far as to
experience Himself.
6. The Difficulty of Desiring the
Invisible (heart
finds no rest: Augustine)
When we attended the recent conference at the bible college,
I felt as if God had put it on my heart to speak to you on the subject of
singleness. As young adults, you find yourselves unmarried and many of you
outside of relationships. And I know, this is a major concern. When I was
unmarried and outside of a relationship, getting into one was something that I
thought about quite a bit, even to the point of it taking away from my seeking
God, I sought more for a human relationship.
In bible college, there was one such human relationship
that I absolutely wanted so badly. I looked back on a prayer journal that I
kept from that time and its clear that the thing I thought about and prayed
about and sought from God more than really anything else was the affection of
this one girl.
Eventually, it got so bad that God showed me I needed to
bring this thing to a close. I decided to do that by basically confessing how I
thought about this girl to this girl,
and you know what, nothing happened. I met Blythe after college and of course
now we’re married. But I remember once I had cut off this constant longing for
a relationship that I felt so free, so liberated. I remember sitting on a hill
and worshiping God for what felt like the first time in a while, uncaring about
whether so-and-so was here or there and whether she saw what I was doing or
not.
Now don’t mistake me, I don’t share this at all to say that relationships
themselves are bad. I think you see my point: I was seeking after a human being
more than I was seeking after the Divine.
But here’s the difficulty presented to us by God’s
invisibility. We know it is so often the greater desire to seek after a human
relationship rather than our relationship with God, because God is invisible
and human beings are not. A human being can be audibly heard. A human being’s
hand can be held. A human being can be touched and seen. And I mean this in no
disrespectful way, but in all seriousness, there can be that romantic and
sexual relationship with a tangible human being, but with the invisible God,
there cannot. With a human relationship there’s an immediate sense of
gratification, not merely with sex, but simply with them being there,
detectable by our senses; but with God, it can be difficult. There’s all the
more seeking involved. It seems to take longer to get to know God, and it seems
to require more to understand Him, than with a human relationship. Heck, you
cannot even properly say of God that it was “love at first sight”, since He is
invisible.
And it is His invisibility, then, which provides a unique
difficulty for the single Christian man or woman.
Now let’s take this a step further. This is still a problem even for the married
Christian man or woman. If in any way I have conveyed to you that a human
marriage is the goal of life, or that marriage will ultimately make you happy,
or that marriage will solve all your problems, then you have my sincere
apology.
Marriage is great, guys, and it is beautiful. But you weren’t
created by God only for marriage, simply to find mister or missus right and
live out the American dream: a house, kids and a car. You weren’t created by
God merely to be in a human relationship. But if you live like you were, like
marriage and relationships are the solution, you’ll find that you’ve missed
your real purpose, and you’ll know all the frustration that comes with that. Rather,
you were made by God to glorify Him and enjoy Him. You were made for His
pleasure.
Right away, then you see that seeking another human being
is important but peripheral, it is secondary, whereas seeking God and
glorifying God is primary, the most important thing you could do. And that
doesn’t change when you get married. Though married, you would have new
responsibilities, you primary responsibility is to God.
I’ve said in the past that the young adult age group has a
problem of misplaced interests. We place our interest in so many different
things, when our first interest, our first love is the biblical term, should be
in God. Guys, don’t let Satan cheat you out of this time in your life when,
being single, you can have all the more devotion to God. Christian young adults
are one of the most valuable resources in the church, yet they are one of the
most untapped and unused, directing their interests rather in things other than
God, and human relationships being one of the biggest ones.
But it is wearisome to pursue that. I know, I remember. I
remember how draining it is to constantly think about whether this one is the One or whether this person saw me do
this or that or what this action or word meant and on and on and on. It is
wearisome to make another human being our own god.
Augustine once wrote the now famous words: “Thou hast made
us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest
in Thee.”
Is it difficult to pursue the invisible rather than the
tangible? Yes, it certainly is. But God is worthy to be pursued. God is worthy
to be sought after, even if it’s harder, even if the immediate satisfaction is
greater with a human relationship rather than with the Divine.
Your heart will be restless, like a wandering spirit,
restless even in a relationship as
you were when you were out of one, until you find your rest in the heart of
God. And resting in God matters for your single-life, for when you’re in a
relationship, for when you’re engaged, and even for when you’re married.
Pursue the invisible!
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