If there is a God, why is his presence not more obvious?

This is a question that has worried believers and unbelievers alike.

We cry out with Job:

Job 23:3 O that I knew where I might find him!

Or with the Psalmist:

Psa 28:1 To you, O LORD, I cry out!
My protector, do not ignore me!
If you do not respond to me,
I will join those who are descending into the grave.

Answers based on unbelief

1. The answer of the deist is that God has made the cosmos, but has now withdrawn to leave it running by itself.  He is a mere spectator in the affairs of our lives.
2. The answer of the atheist is that this silence proves that there is no God.  A living God would speak.
3. The answer of the materialist is that the world is governed by impersonal laws, without compassion and without purpose.

To reject God only plunges us into greater darkness.

Why, then, is God silent?

Some negative answers:

1. Not because God is indifferent.  Consider his gift of his Son, and especially Christ’s suffering on the cross and his own God-forsakenness.
2. Not because God doesn’t know or see our predicament.  This would be to deny divine omniscience.
3. Not because God is unloving.  But we do need to consider that a truly loving parent will discipline a child, Heb 12:7f.
4. Not because God is unwilling.  He sees the end from the beginning and plans our whole lives.

Positively:

1. The common sense view is that much of our difficulty is due to our own carelessness, neglect and folly.  We reap what we ourselves have sown (Gal 6:7).
2. The reverent view.  Who am I to question the motives and methods of Almighty God?  Isa 55:8f.
3. The philosophical view.  Human freedom leads to moral responsibility.
4. The lover’s view.  A lover does not force himself on the one he loves.
5. The ‘already/not yet’ view.  What we perceive dimly in ths life will become crystal clear in the life to come.  Jn 13:7
6. The testing of faith view.  1 Pet 1:7.
7. The maturity view.  Jn 9:3.  The limitations and suffering we experience are so that God’s works might be manifest in us, and that we might become blessings to thers.

Conclusion

1. Live in God’s presence even when you cannot feel that presence.
2. I know God; I spoke with him today.  He spoke to me through his precious word, and through answered prayers.
3. Live according to the knowledge we have.

Based on Alban Douglas, 100 Bible Lessons