Reaching For the Invisible God

I have read several of Philip Yancey’s books. Reaching for the Invisible God was relevant for me at this time. I bought this at a library sale months ago, but picked it up to read now because our Adult Bible Fellowship class is studying about ministering in the church and discussing how we relate to God so that we are equipped to minister.

 

If you find God with great ease, suggested Thomas Merton, perhaps it is not God that you have found. Relating to an invisible God has its difficulties, not the least of which is the differences in perspective between God and man.

 

Since God remains invisible, people tend to remake God in their own image. God transcended our limitations by revealing Himself thru Jesus, the full expression of God, yet veiled in human flesh. He reached out to us; how do we reach out to Him?

 

We come to God on His terms, i.e., through faith. Faith means following, trusting, holding out a hand to an invisible Guide. Faith is trust, not certainty. In the presence of certainty, who would need faith? Merton again: “We do not first see, then act; we act, then see. . . . And that is why the man who wants to see clearly before he will believe, never starts the journey.” We must take the first step of knowing God by faith.

 

As Yancey points out, we seldom run into visual clues of God unless we are looking. The pursuit makes possible the encounter. The Spirit of God brings to us recognition of God’s presence in places we may have overlooked: a baby’s smile, a beautiful sunset, the kindness of a friend. Ann Voskamp shines in this department. Her recognition that these “gifts” in our lives come from God, that by being thankful, we build up trust in His goodness complements nicely Yancey’s thoughts. Are you looking? Am I pursuing?

 

Faith gets tested when a sense of God’s presence fades or the very ordinariness of life makes us question if we even matter. God is a self-revealer but also a self-concealer. Isaiah says, “Truly you are a God who hides Himself.” Here is an interesting thought. Yancey speculates that just as in a game of hide ‘n seek where the child does want to be eventually found and delights in being found not ignored, perhaps God delights in being found. He wants us to pursue Him, to make the effort.

 

Faith can only be exercised in circumstances that allow for doubt, such as God’s hiddenness. God is free to reveal or conceal, to intervene or to restrain from intervening, to work within nature or outside it, to rule over the world or to be despised and rejected, to display Himself or limit Himself. Human beings have no competence in trying to figure out all the intricacies of why things happen. Faith means continuing to trust God while accepting the limits of our humanity, i.e., that we cannot answer the “why” questions.

 

Since we are limited, we do better by not looking backward for explanations but forward for redemptive results. God can use the events in our lives to transform us if we let Him. We have to trust in His goodness to redeem the bad. But God respects our freedom, making Himself dependent on our co-operation. Sometimes God allows us to determine the intensity of His presence thru our chosen responses.

 

I cannot learn from Jesus why bad things happen, but I can learn how God feels about tragedy. Jesus gives God a face, and that face is streaked with tears. We see God’s love for us; a love that should remove our doubts and fear. I must accept whatever falls into my bowl (life) knowing that a good God will redeem it if I return that love with trust.