If God exists, why isn‘t He more obvious?

G’day everyone, Dave Deane here, and our question for the week is: If God exists, why isn’t He more obvious?

This is a great question. In academic circles, it’s known as the ‘Problem of Divine Hiddenness’. And for many, this problem presents a powerful argument against the existence of God. If God exists and He truly is all loving and all powerful and wants a relationship with us, then He should make Himself obvious to us! If He doesn’t, then either He doesn’t exist, or He isn’t all loving, all powerful, or capable of relating to us.

But this isn’t just an academic question. It’s also a very raw and emotional one that even Christians. I know I have. And asking it reflects a sort of missed expectation that we have of who God is and how He should relate to us.

And let’s be honest: that expectation is not ill-founded. I mean, when we open the Bible God is just ‘there’ on display, right from the very first sentence “in the beginning God…” (Gen. 1:1). The Psalmist says: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psa. 46:1).

Well, if He’s so present then… why do we find ourselves with this question?

Well, here’s where it gets interesting… On the one hand, we have Psalms that talk about the presence of God, but on the other we also have Psalms like Psalm 10:1 which reads: “Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Or Psalm 44:23-26 which reads “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? … Why do you hide your face? … Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!” (Ps 44:23-26).

You see, we are not the first generation to ask this question. People in the Bible – the book where God is ‘so obvious’ – were asking this question!

Now that doesn’t answer the question, but it does reduce the scope of possibility for us: either the bible is just confused and contradictory, or it’s trying to communicate that there is a reason why God seems present and obvious on the one hand, and why He seems distant and hidden on the other.

Well, when we explore the possibility that there is another reason and come to the Bible with that question, we find the first mention of hiding in Genesis chapter 3… and here’s where it gets interesting: it’s not God who is hiding… it’s Adam and Eve… it’s human beings. Genesis 3:9-10:

“But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ And he said, ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.’”

That’s fascinating… Did you notice that God was the one asking us ‘where are you’ but now it’s flipped and we find ourselves asking: God, where are you?

And we see a little later on in Genesis 3 God driving Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden – out of direct relationship with Himself – and basically the rest of the Bible story is about how this distanced or indirection relationship between God and humanity is mediated: through the law, through the prophets, and ultimately through His Son, Jesus (Heb 1:1-2; cf. 1 John 1:1-4).

Here’s the point: the problem of divine hiddenness has its origin in the problem of human hiddenness. In our sin and shame we hide from God, and in His holiness and grace God withdraws from us that we might draw near to Him. Like looking at a bright light when you’ve been in darkness for so long can damage your eyes, God has hidden His immediate holiness from us and you see, and that is a kindness, because it makes it possible for us to search after him and come close to Him without being struck blind or dead by His holiness.

It’s an invitation into faith. That’s why the Bible instructs us to: “seek and you will find… ask and you shall receive… seek after God because He is not far from anyone of us…” You see, hiddenness makes something very obvious! You don’t search for something that you have. The very idea of seeking and searching implies a sense of distance, a sense of hiddenness, a sense of lostness – this isn’t a scandal in scripture. It’s what it’s all about.

The entire Biblical story from beginning to end is a drama about why God isn’t as obvious as He should be! And our frustration with this question is lip service to the fact that we were made to know God.

And the beautiful reality is the bloody reality that the cross of Jesus Christ can satisfy that frustration we have. We hid ourselves from God, so God found us in Jesus who was hidden from God on the cross. “My God my God why have you forsaken me?” Through that great exchange, He calls us back into a relationship with Himself upon the basis of faith and love.

Belief in God isn’t just about proving His existence, because the exercise of faith in a loving covenantal relationship is not a mere science experiment in a controlled environment. Belief IN God is more than belief THAT God exists. Demons believe that God exists and they shudder, but belief IN God is an exercise of faith, like a marriage, in commitment to God. And that faith is not blinding… it’s found as a lamp which guides our feet upon the path of God’s purposes.

In the words of theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar:

“Active faith means following Jesus; but Jesus’ mission leads him on a course from heaven deeper and deeper into the world of sinners, until finally on the Cross he assumes, in their stead, their experience of distance from God, even of abandonment by God, and thus of the very loss of that lucid security promised to the “proven” faithful. This paradox must be borne…”