December 2020
If God exists, why is he not more obvious to everyone? If he is all loving and all powerful, it would be simple for him to show himself to the world. Wouldn’t he be motivated to do so? Yet many people feel they’ve never had a concrete interaction with him. Some even use this to justify the reasonableness of their unbelief. These are hard questions, particularly troubling if one believes eternal destiny is at stake. God’s hiddenness is a difficult subject and one to be thought through carefully.
In many ways, the problem of God’s hiddenness is similar to the problem of evil. The tension revolves around what we expect God should be doing. It tends to strike us when things are down. It can nag the mind of even a well-studied and dedicated believer. The two issues may be interrelated, such as when God’s hiddenness calls into question God’s concern for us. Is he so hidden because he is not real? Is his hiddenness a sign he is not as loving as we thought? We must think through what we see and feel. Asking "Where is God?" and "Why are things this way?" are reasonable questions. But we may find logical answers are only partially satisfying, our feelings must be dealt with also.
Before we can declare an absence of God, we must consider our expectations. Should we expect more evidence of God’s presence than we see? Is our position backed by more than a feeling? How would we know God should be more evident? And we should be clear on what we are claiming. As Paul Moser states, "Is it the case that God is hidden in the sense that nobody ever at any place, at any time, has had an experience of God?" Or are we thinking something not quite that extreme? Is our claim merely about our own experience, or is it being extrapolated out to everyone else?
Two questions come to the fore. (1) Should we expect more evidence than we see? (2) How hard is the search for evidence being pursued? God’s hiddenness is a presumption based on our own experience and understanding. This could include the reported experience of others. While the question "Why is God so hidden to me?" is a serious one, it’s not the same as asserting God is hidden in general. It would be embarrassing if you claimed something was rare only to find out it’s only rare where you live or because you don’t get out much. As Matt Nelson puts it, "Have we done enough looking around?" Setting our expectations presumes we know how much evidence there is, and we know how much evidence there should be. We should admit it’s incredibly unlikely we know all the philosophical, historical, experiential, and scientific evidence for God throughout the world and throughout time. Before we condemn God, we should acknowledge there is more evidence than we have personally experienced. Knowing the bigger picture will help inform our feelings.
Our initial expectations of God can often be put into the form of the following argument, taken from Matt Nelson:
The first premise is our expectations on what God should do. We may think, "If God exists, he should immediately answer all my prayers which would benefit other people. My brother should recover from his cancer, my family’s financial crisis should be resolved, my neighbors should be spiritually interested." These are things we think a loving God would grant. Or we may say, "If God exists, he would stop me from making bad choices, like I try to stop my kids." Shouldn’t God stop us from the worst excesses of our nature and protect us? Or maybe we object to how hard it is to know him, "If God wants people to know him, he should speak visibly and directly to each person alive and reason with them. He should do stunning miracles for every generation, not just those in Old Testament times." These expectations have been felt across the centuries. We may cite God’s attributes such as power, wisdom, and goodness as reasons why God should do as we demand. But they are still expectations. William Lane Craig notes we often set expectations we have on God, then feel God fails to meet them. Rather than interpreting this as our expectations are wrong, we cast doubt on God’s existence. Why do we assume God must be wrong instead of us?
The problem with the first premise above is it assumes we can know what God would do. Or what we would do if we were God. However, we are finite in our knowledge while God is omniscient. We are finite in our experience, but God is eternal. We are limited in our compassion, but God is all-loving. It is a quite a leap to think we know what we would do in his shoes. Is such a leap reasonable? I don’t think it is. Imagine a situation where your friend completely wrecks your car. You are likely to feel upset. However, the details surrounding the wreck have a large impact on our feelings about it. If the friend smashed your car after deciding to drive home after a night of hard drinking, we’d be furious. Yet if it were smashed to avoid a small child who ran into the street, it would be completely different! A small piece of additional information can significantly alter our judgments. It follows that our current judgments would be significantly modified if we were omniscient. We would be operating with a vast increase in information. This is proved true we regret past decisions; ones we would have made differently with the information we now possess. We would act and feel differently with more knowledge. Therefore, premise one is invalid. We cannot say with much certainty what God would do besides what he tells us he will do. Therefore, the conclusion is also invalid. God may have very good reasons for his hiddenness that we do not see or understand. We can theorize what some of these reasons might be.
First, we know from the Bible, God wants to be sought out. Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7-12:
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
God wants people to ask him questions. He encourages petitions. He wants us to seek for the truth and to look to him. He wants us to knock on his front door. He promises he will not give evil or worthless things in return. He is better than human fathers, most of whom give good gifts to their kids! But like any good father, he does not give people whatever they want just because they ask for it. He considers the long-term ramifications. God has set it up so only those who seek him are able to see him and those who do not honestly seek him will not find him. God is a relational being, and like us, wants others to initiate with him. So, the first reason God may be hidden is to give us the ability to seek him out. If God were always visibly present, there would be no opportunity to seek him out or to avoid him. People would be forcefully ushered into his presence. Hiddenness allows people a choice. Perhaps God is giving us a choice.
Second, the Bible says this hiddenness is of a limited duration. In the future, every knee will bow and acknowledge Christ, and everyone will face the Judge directly. God may not want to force or overwhelm us into acknowledging his existence too soon. After all, merely believing in his existence is insufficient for him. James 2:19 reminds us, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that- and shudder." Demons have no doubts about God’s existence, but they have a very poor relationship with him. God is concerned not just with us knowing he exists, but also that we consider him good. This is explicit in the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:6, "Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." It may be that a more overwhelming presence would hinder people’s ability to recognize God as gentle and good. While they may acknowledge his existence, this does not mean they’d be saved. Many of us assume a less hidden God would positively influence others, but there is reason to believe this is not the case. Jesus indicates humanity’s surprising level of indifference in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus says, "They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." This was literally true of those who lived during Jesus’s day. They saw all the miracles and were not convinced even though Jesus rose from the dead. This was true of the Israelites led out of Egypt. They saw regular visible displays of power, but their relationship with the Lord was not very strong. This was true of the Israelites during the reign of the kings, when God crushed foreign armies in spectacular ways. Miracles do not create much faith.
Third, we know God remains hidden to some degree for our sake. In our current state as sinful humans, we are unable to be in the full presence of God. God tells Moses this clearly in Exodus 33:20, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." While we can wish for God to be more present than he is now, God must remain hidden to a significant degree or we would all be immediately destroyed. God’s full revelation of himself would essentially usher in the Judgment Day. This is what Revelation 19 and 20 describe. When Christ visibly returns, judgment of all mankind immediately follows. For those who have asked Jesus to forgive them, this will mean transitioning to our heavenly state, but for everyone else this means answering before God for everything they’ve done. Thus God is required to be hidden prior to the day of judgment, and only the degree of his hiddenness can be debated. We may not like how hidden he is but while his time of patience continues, some hiddenness is mandatory.
Fourth, God’s being hidden gives us a role. Jesus gave us the Great Commission in Matthew 28. This commission is to teach people what Jesus taught us. We share our faith with others, how we found God and why we are convinced of his truth. One may object that God would do a better job of sharing truth with people than Christians. Fair point. But God has decided not to do everything himself. This allows his children something to do. When your son or daughter asks to help make dinner, you want to include them, even though this means they will do tasks less proficiently than you. You know including them gives them a role and working together strengthens your bond. We are God’s children and he treats us the same. God makes us his ambassadors, people who know him and try to promote his wishes. This gives us the chance to make an appeal to people. We can have a role and make a difference. This genuine role allows God to do something he greatly desires to: reward us. "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward." By having work, we may earn rewards. Jesus is excited for this, saying, "I am coming soon and my reward is with me to pay each one according to what he has done!"
This role is unique, and one God could not accomplish himself. Our opportunity on earth is special because we are imperfect humans like everyone around us. God was never imperfect. Angels were never human. God is not a fellow creature. We are direct peers to those who do not know God yet. God’s appeals come from a place of authority but ours should come from a place of humility. God’s hiddenness allows us to closely identify with those who do not know him. This opportunity would be lost if we were taken to heaven immediately. If God were always visible, he could become like a boss figure hovering over us as we talk to others. It would be more difficult to have searching conversations with people. They would have to decide right in front of the boss, instead of by having a private conversation with a friend.
If God were visible, we would likely feel more external pressure to perform. How we work when the boss is right there is not the same as when the boss is absent. We already struggle with this even with God’s current hiddenness. The Bible exhorts us to work like diligent employees while the boss appears absent. This is internal motivation. God’s hiddenness allows us to choose how much to participate in the role he has for us. It better shows our true intent. Just as we get a stronger impression of who wants to join us in something when the offer is truly optional.
God’s hiddenness is only objectionable if there are not good reasons for it. The four reasons above show there could be a lot of things God is trying to accomplish by remaining hidden. Now the counterpoint, how hidden is God anyway?
Something is drawing massive numbers of people to God and spiritual things. Estimates are there were 2.2 billion Christians around the world in 2010, or about 31% worldwide. Even if this number has a wide margin of error, surely the number of people worldwide who have heard about God, the Bible, and Jesus is substantial. God has left four big avenues for revealing himself other than direct revelation.
The Bible says explicitly that nature is an intended route God has used to reveal himself. Romans 1:20, "For 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 people are without excuse." We can observe reality and come to certain logical inferences from it. The universe is huge and ancient, therefore whatever started it must be ancient and immensely powerful. It is intricate. Therefore, whatever started it must account for this complexity. While the details of what can be inferred from nature is debated, it gives us a picture of how things must be and a God who exists must fit into this picture. John S. Feinberg puts it, "Human beings are ‘incurably’ religious. We sense that we are not alone in the universe. As we gaze upon the glory of creation, it is natural to think that someone or something with superior power, wisdom, and goodness made it all." Many people have found an awe of God through nature.
Second, the small, moral voice inside our heads also gives us information about God’s character. This voice, often called the conscience, provides a commentary on our behavior. Even people who have never heard of God or the Bible operate under its principles. As Romans 2:16 puts it, "They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times defending them." This reveals a morality outside the self and rules beyond our choices. Since morality is relational it leads us to wonder to whom we are relating when we think this way. Many people have found conviction of sin from their conscience.
Third, the most famous and widely translated book in the world is the Bible. It is a preeminently available resource allowing people to learn about God. Adapted into films and read aloud, its contents are not limited to the literate. God has left a visible, worldwide method of getting to know him. One that has been increasingly available over the last several thousand years.
Fourth, followers of Jesus, called the Church, have been around for millennia. This universal Church has members in many cultures, times and places. God calls them his ambassadors and they imperfectly communicate his wishes. This is not always done according to Jesus’s dictums of "by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" and "no servant is greater than his master." But there have been numerous true and faithful followers eager to help others find God. These are diverse personal relationships often through close contact. Coworkers, brothers, sisters, and friends around us share God’s message.
God is not hidden in such a way as he is difficult to find. God has been available through a variety of means. Nor is finding him limited to a certain people or a certain time in history. Most of the methods of discovering him have been widely available for millennia, some have been present since the beginning of humanity. It is reasonable for non-belief in him to persist temporarily but not permanently. As William Lane Craig argues, "At some point in the process, God will bear witness to himself to that individual." This is not to say unbelief does not continue, for many people do continue to choose not to believe, but that God is no longer completely hidden to them.
Our current Western culture emphasizes the material world. We are used to relationships with other physical beings. Since the Bible says God will be much more visible in the future, there can be frustration with how invisible he is now. This modern materialism, while it has precursors and ancient adherents, was the minority view throughout history and is not the uniform view today. We should keep in mind this is a bias is not foundational to reality even though it permeates our culture.
We often feel God is hidden. This is understandable since he is not as obvious as the physical things we see. Difficult life circumstances bring urgency and a sense of betrayal that he is not more present. It brings our expectations into sharper relief. But consider how these feelings affect our beliefs. We should temper our expectations because there are good reasons God is hidden. We will find he is just as hidden as he needs to be. He will not be hidden for long.