Why does God keep Himself hidden?

[MechPebbles]

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[twin1954]

Why doesn't God show Himself more? If God revealed Himself in some visible way to His people, wouldn't it be a great encouragement to us all, especially those of us going through suffering?

(Heb 1:1) God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

(Heb 1:2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

(Heb 1:3) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;


(1Pe 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

(1Pe 1:4) To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

(1Pe 1:5) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

(1Pe 1:6) Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

(1Pe 1:7) That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

(1Pe 1:8) Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

(1Pe 1:9) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.


We are to simply rest in Christ expecting Him to do all that the has prepared for us in this life in order to do good to His chosen in this generation. We don't need signs and wonders in order to believe. If we did our faith would not be in Christ but in the signs and wonders.

At the same time we have not because we ask not. We don't actually expect great things from God so we don't get great things from God.

 

[Inkfingers]

Why doesn't God show Himself more? If God revealed Himself in some visible way to His people, wouldn't it be a great encouragement to us all, especially those of us going through suffering?

God is visible and audible the whole time, its just that we have a tendency to close our eyes and stick our fingers in our ears.

 

[MechPebbles]

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[MechPebbles]

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[Inkfingers]

I'm sorry but this sounds like a meaningless platitude to me.

Perhaps you need to remove your fingers....?

Atheists have a powerful and sobering answer to this question. They say that God does not reveal Himself simply because He doesn't exist.

Perhaps they need to remove their fingers as well?

God is visible in the orderly universe. Not as a first cause (which is an iffy argument) but as the directing power. Order means data is being handled, and that means intelligence.

 

[MechPebbles]

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[SkyWriting]

Why doesn't God show Himself more? If God revealed Himself in some visible way to His people, wouldn't it be a great encouragement to us all, especially those of us going through suffering?

Becasue to stand in His presence would melt us like wax in an Indiana Jones Movie.
The Father created this imperfect place to accommodate us until we are ready.
Because nothing imperfect can see God, becasue He has no imperfection in Him.
We can only see Him in Spirit, becasue that is where He is.
Thanks to Jesus, we are forgiven and perfected through Him.
But these sad bodies have still got to go first.

 

[MechPebbles]

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[amadeois]

God is in charge and He can do what He pleases.

Pray to God for Him to tell you what you are asking of us.

Why are you asking us?

We are not Him.

Go to the source directly. He said ask me.

If you want a quick answer, you need to do it in the proper way.

Do yo know how to do it?

 

[amadeois]

You mentioned His people?

Are we His people?

May be not. Why?

 

[twin1954]

Sorry, Twin, but you're not answering my question. This has nothing to do with signs and wonders. Neither has it anything to do with faith in God. I'm simply asking why God keeps Himself hidden. Is it a divine trait of His? Is it because sin separates Him from us? I don't think the Bible addresses this question, which is very strange since the Bible has many verses that record mockers and scoffers questioning God's whereabout and coming.

We are called to live by faith not by sight. If He revealed Himself in any other way than by making the foolishness of preaching be the power of His word to our hearts we wouldn't be living by faith. So I did actually address your question, though inadvertently, in that faith is required in this life instead of seeing Him.

Faith knows Him.
Faith rests in Him.
Faith sees Him with a spiritual eye not a physical one and is content with Him.
Faith looks to Him for all things.
Faith expects from Him all things.

The just shall live by faith.


Here are a few verses for you to think on:
(2Co 5:4) For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

(2Co 5:5) Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

(2Co 5:6) Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:

(2Co 5:7) (For we walk by faith, not by sight)

(2Co 5:8) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

 

[JM]

It could also be suffering brought about by the smarting rod of God meant to discipline a child that is clinging to sin, living in sin, or is prideful from gain of some sort.

"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."

"As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent."

Consider Christian, that all your . . .
trials and troubles,
calamities and miseries,
crosses and losses,
which you meet with in this world—is all
the hell that you shall ever have!

Here and now you have your hell.
Hereafter you shall have your heaven!

This is the worst of your condition;
the best is yet to come!

Lazarus had his hell first, his heaven last; but
Dives had his heaven first, and his hell at last.

You have all your pangs, and pains, and throes
here—that you shall ever have! Your ease, and
rest, and pleasure—is yet to come!

Here you have all your bitters;
your sweets are yet to come!

Here you have your sorrows;
your joys are yet to come!

Here you have all your winter nights;
your summer days are yet to come!

Here you have your evil things;
your good things are yet to come!

Death will put an end to all your sins—
and to all your sufferings!

Death will be an inlet to those joys, delights,
and comforts—which shall never have an end!

Who can seriously meditate upon this, and not
be silent under God's most smarting rod?

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[MechPebbles]

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[MechPebbles]

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[MechPebbles]

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[twin1954]

Twin, are you saying that those many people God revealed Himself to no longer live by faith? You make it sound like anytime God shows Himself to someone, that person's faith is in danger of being nullified. God met and spoke with Abraham many times in his life and treated him as a friend, yet Abraham is considered the father of faith.

I think you may be confused between reason and cause. You are saying that the reason God hides Himself from us is so as to enable us to live by faith. Have you considered that the reason we are to live by faith and not by sight is because we worship a hidden God? You treat living by faith and living by sight as mutually exclusive and impossible. I'm saying that we do not live by sight because, for some mysterious reason, God is hidden.

Abraham's faith was in a promise which God made to him. His faith was in the fact that God promised that his seed, Christ, would come. So was David's and all the others. That is what Hebrews 11 is all about.

Faith and sight are mutually exclusive in our generation. Those who see visions are deceived because we now have the complete Word of God which is all we need to know Him. He has revealed in His word everything that is required to live by faith.

(Heb 4:12) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

 

[MechPebbles]

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[amadeois]

God is present in us and all around us with His creation.

Look at yourself. You have a brain that thinks to do good things or bad things.

If you do drugs, you go through a path of destruction and you suffer the consequences. You made the decision with that brain. Look at creation. God created all this.

God is present on His creation. He also left you the book with His manual on how to live a good life. If you don't follow the indtructions, then you sin.

He is around and inside you. He is not hidding, if you don't see Him like it is said in the OP, then you have problem, because with that attitude you will never see Him even He is around all the time.

With His chosen nation He appeared in person to guide them. Now we have His instructions in writing and almost everybody is going to have His indtructions.

Those that did not obey suffered the consequences. Now us will have to wait until the books are opened.

So every one of us has the chance to walk through the narrow or wide door.

WHICH ONE HAVE YOU CHOSEN?

 

[amadeois]

The Bible has encouragement, a lot of it. Have you read it?

Sufferings? Life has a lot of it thanks to Adam. So then we have to suffer.

The OT has a lot of stories. Some ended good because they believed God and did what He said they should do. Others went to destruction because they were desobefient.

He left us a way to communicate with Him: Prayer.

And He will surprise you with His answers.

Does He answer quickly or slow?
Is your request andwered?

It depends on how you do it and what is your request.

My own experience resently is that I got answers the next day.

So He is listening and He is around.

Don't expect to see what happened when the book was not around.

Glory be to God.

ALWAYS