Where is God?

humblehumility said:

Do you not think I'd love to speak with God? Do you not think I've sat and genuinely asked the sky (God) why he won't talk to me? If an intelligent designer exists, do you not think I would absolutely cherish conversation with him? Do you not understand how much insight I realize could be gained from such a phenomenal being? I would absolutely love to hear something from God.

Why won't God speak to me? Why is he invisible to me? Doesn't he love me?

Click to expand...

Don't you think He's trying? A lot of people have heard God speak with them, first the Jew then the gentile. Are you open to any and all ways He might speak with you? God doesn't always just "talk" with you, He can use your life and experiences to get your attention. Not all people are truly willing to speak to God when thy say they do. I'm not saying you aren't, however I'm not saying you are.

humblehumility said:

But how do I know when God is using an experience to tell me something? To me, it is just an experience of reality I use to grow and learn more. I don't see God in any of it.

Click to expand...

How would you define your experiences an could you provide some examples?

humblehumility said:

Do you not think I'd love to speak with God? Do you not think I've sat and genuinely asked the sky (God) why he won't talk to me? If an intelligent designer exists, do you not think I would absolutely cherish conversation with him? Do you not understand how much insight I realize could be gained from such a phenomenal being? I would absolutely love to hear something from God.

Why won't God speak to me? Why is he invisible to me? Doesn't he love me?

Click to expand...

Do you know that your bible gives you step by step instructions on how to accomplish all of this?

Maybe He has spoken, and you just haven't read what He has to say. If you are not interested in what has been said, what makes you think you will be interested in what he has to say now?

You have been given a measure of God's message. Be faithful to what you have been given and you will be given more. Ignore what you have been given and what you have will be taken from you.

God sent you a letter. Have you read it?

If you have not read His letter, do you not love Him?

Why don't you begin by reading his letter rather than just wanting to hear His voice? He talked to those who read His words.

The Bible says, the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword...and is a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Read His word. In time, He will speak to you but not for your benefit--for His.

The Bible is God's Word. If you want to hear from God, start there. Start by getting to know Him through His written words, then His other means of communication may become more clear to you.

humblehumility said:

But how do I know when God is using an experience to tell me something? To me, it is just an experience of reality

Click to expand...

Now here is something we can work with!

Those of us who know God, cannot directly give you that experience for yourself. If you were looking in the sky for a specific point, say a star, and one of us were sitting next to you, we could point in the general direction. Except here you're not looking for a point in the sky, and you don't really know which direction to look.

Humility dictates that whether you start looking closer to the right direction, or are looking in the wrong direction, you will at least hear what we tell you and respond accordingly. And that is all we can do, attempt to point you in vaguely the right direction. You still need to make contact on your own, but we have this promise:

if you draw near to God, He will draw near to you.

Now what can you do with this info?

humblehumility said:

Why won't God speak to me? Why is he invisible to me? Doesn't he love me?

Click to expand...

God will speak to you and you may even find that when He does, you will recognize that He has been speaking to you all along. Anyway, to initiate your relationship with God, you must accept that it happens on His terms. Therefore there is a protocol, and that is called faith. You must agree to believe what He says. If you disagree with what He says then your relationship will crumble (it happened to me). So that's the first thing, you have to be prepared to say "Dear God, you know much better than I do, I wish to learn from you". When you are ready for that, then you will have decided that everything you read in the bible is true. Take this for instance:

39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

Jesus is speaking here about how life is granted by God and not achieved by rite. You will need to literally ask Jesus for the life, and prepared to learn all that the scriptures teach you about God.

Once you are ready for this, then the following verse will come into effect:

21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but the other disciple with that name) said to him, “Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large?”

23 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.

So now you get to the point of obedience to God, what does your conscience say you must do differently? Repentance is a never ending act of obedience, as there is always room for improvement. You'll need to take that up with Jesus and if you feel that it is too hard to live up to His expectations (you are not alone), then just tell Him "Jesus it's too hard for me, why don't you help me to change" and He will help you, but you do need to be willing to change. There's a difference between being unwilling and unable, you will need to understand that.

Finally, one of His commandments is to be baptized. Once you are fully prepared to be Christian, and you have satisfied Jesus that He is confident to let you in the sheepfold, then you will receive the Holy Spirit. Notice this is not something that you get by taking oaths in a secret society, it is something you are awarded by taking oaths in the secrecy of your heart.

I hope this helps you to understand the nature of salvation in Jesus' name, let us know if you have specific trouble with any of this.

Wow, great stuff there Antz! Mr OP, what does humility mean to you wrt this? (No need to answer us, but a key introspective question. Some here may help you think through that if you choose)

oi_antz said:

God will speak to you and you may even find that when He does, you will recognize that He has been speaking to you all along..

Click to expand...

........took the words right out of my mouth. When I read the original post.....I could 'feel' the hunger and need. 'That hunger'......is as much 'God speaking' to you as anything. Hallelujah! Just keep talking to Him, talk to Him all the time, your words....your prayers will not be wasted. Every minute that you spend with God...is time that you spend with God.

humblehumility said:

Why won't God speak to me? Why is he invisible to me? Doesn't he love me?

Click to expand...

He's invisible to me too but I still know, somehow, that he's there. I really can't explain it, and it's not an emotional feeling either. And I don't always feel that he's close... sometimes he seems very far away. He never speaks to me in audible words, either, but I know he has spoken before.

It's just something you have to experience to understand, and even then I don't really understand most of it. Confusing, I know.
I'm not the best at explaining things like this, eheh.

humblehumility said:

Do you not think I'd love to speak with God? Do you not think I've sat and genuinely asked the sky (God) why he won't talk to me? If an intelligent designer exists, do you not think I would absolutely cherish conversation with him? Do you not understand how much insight I realize could be gained from such a phenomenal being? I would absolutely love to hear something from God.

Why won't God speak to me? Why is he invisible to me? Doesn't he love me?

Click to expand...

You say you want God to talk with you, but what would it really change for the better in your life?

If God did make Himself “obvious” to you with some special message would not the result be: 1. You would feel puffed up with pride, 2. Others would want to hear what he said to you and would start listening to you, 3. You would only want God to speak to you more and do other stuff for you, and 4. You would find it harder to fulfill your objective in this life than before.

humblehumility said:

Do you not think I'd love to speak with God? Do you not think I've sat and genuinely asked the sky (God) why he won't talk to me? If an intelligent designer exists, do you not think I would absolutely cherish conversation with him? Do you not understand how much insight I realize could be gained from such a phenomenal being? I would absolutely love to hear something from God.

Why won't God speak to me? Why is he invisible to me? Doesn't he love me?

Click to expand...

In the Western Christian tradition there's a saint-mystic, St. John of the Cross, who wrote The Dark Night of the Soul. Part of the concept is that oftentimes Christians go through periods of "spiritual darkness", where there is a sense of lonliness, of feeling distant from God and the Divine Presence. What the poem drives at is that it is in these crises of the soul, where we sense ourselves further from God than we have yet experienced, that we are growing and maturing. The poem also drives home that these times of darkness are not actually God's deprivation of presence, but actually experiences to drive us further into the Divine presence.

In a more poignant answer to you inquiry, God is with you. Beside you. God is present in your doubt, your questioning. Any sense of longing and loneliness, God is present there.

There is a story in the Old Testament, one of the most important to me for personal reasons, where the Prophet Elijah is on a mountain, seeking God out. Several things happen, Elijah hears a mighty wind, but God is not in the wind; there is an earthquake, but God is not in the earthquake. After these loud, boisterous events where God is not present, suddenly Elijah hears the faintest, gentlest, smallest whisper. God is in the whisper.

In the Eastern Christian tradition there is something known as Hesychasm, a spiritual tradition concerning interior prayer and breath where learning ceaseless prayer becomes like breathing. The word refers to stillness, and is likely inspired by a passage in the Bible that says, "Be still and know I am God." Quieting the mind and the heart, stilling the breath, allowing oneself to sink into prayer; to bring one into Theoria, the Vision of God. It's not about emotional euphoria, but allowing oneself to be overcome with prayer, real spiritual prayer that comes from the heart.

In all that I'm saying, which seems a little disjointed, is that often the experience of God is very different then what may be expected or anticipated.

In my teenage years I had an unexpected and deeply profound experience (and I use the word "experience" due mostly to not having a better word in its place) that I can only describe as an encounter with Christ. It was in total silence, there was no sensation or feeling, I had no "visions" I heard no voices. It was simply and inexplicably an encounter, exceedingly brief. It was, in fact, the moment in my life where Jesus went from being a revered character in the stories I read and heard and a distant god that I prayed to to being definitively real to me. It was a realness that seemed more real than the air I breath.

Now that's just a personal experience for me. How it is for others, I can't say. Neither can I say it should be like this for anyone else, and even though it was a truly profound experience for me I'm open to the possibility that it's entirely a imaginary or a self-induced trick of the mind--so I'm not using it as proof-positive for anything.

But, again, I think it's worth the point to say that God is often found in the places least likely to be found. A still whisper, in our intense doubt, in our frailty, in our weaknesses, in our loneliness, our despair, in our unanswered questions.

Now, I am convinced that God is with you, I believe whole-heartedly that God loves you. I believe that in your doubts, in your unbelief, in your questioning, and in every life experience you have, good and bad, God is truly present there with you and for you.

I'm not trying to convince you of this, I can't do that. I'm merely offering my thoughts, my experiences, and if any of it is helpful, then I'm glad.

-CryptoLutheran

humblehumility said:

Do you not think I'd love to speak with God? Do you not think I've sat and genuinely asked the sky (God) why he won't talk to me? If an intelligent designer exists, do you not think I would absolutely cherish conversation with him? Do you not understand how much insight I realize could be gained from such a phenomenal being? I would absolutely love to hear something from God.

Why won't God speak to me? Why is he invisible to me? Doesn't he love me?

Click to expand...

He gave you existence and provides hope for existence continuing. He probably has already spoken to you, but you must be willing to listen and hear Him. He decides how and when to speak to you and in my case it is never as another human being speaks to me. Another human being may be involved in delivery of the message, but it is not a physical voice directly from God that I can hear with my physical ears.