Why isn't the God of the Bible showing Himself to me?

This honest, straightforward question came in:

Hi

I am hoping for an answer which would really help me in my quest! My question is:

Is there a God and if it is the God who is showing himself in the Bible then why is he not showing himself to me?

Thanks and I hope to hear from you SOON!




I tried to answer in a straightforward manner too, without trying to 'prove' the position at this point in the conversation:
The short answers are:

  1. Yes, there is a god/God. [But we only know this because He revealed Himself to us in history--otherwise, we could only guess.]

  2. Yes, it is the God of the Bible [although He apparently revealed Himself to many people WITHOUT using the Bible]

  3. He didn’t actually 'show himself' to more than a handful of people in the bible [that was a terrifying and often fatal experience for finite beings, apparently];

  4. Rather, He COMMUNICATED to them through various means; and He showed His character/heart/values/intentions through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. So, we cannot 'see the essence of God', but we can see 'the heart and character of God' (by looking at Jesus and the record of God's actions/words in the bible);

  5. And we can --with practice and time--experience (in increasing clarity and certainty) His communication, presence, values in a relationship with Him now. Of course, as with ALL relationships, the 'rules of interaction' must respect the rights/value of the other, and He, accordingly, only interacts with those who are in a trusting, open, honest, non-arrogant relationship with Him. Otherwise, He is invisible and silent--until the other party becomes 'open' and 'honest' and 'humble' again.

    Therefore...He did NOT reveal Himself to everybody IN THE BIBLE (there are many people in the Bible who never listened/understood His communication in history, and there were some that heard/saw but simply ignored His communication --and then complained that God didn’t give them a 'sign'!)

  6. There are many reasons why He might not 'show himself' to you (in the sense of impress upon you the sense of His existence), but I wouldn’t begin to be able to 'diagnose' that, my friend! These generally are due to matters of the heart, perspective, openness, humility, etc.

    But let's start with a couple questions:

    • Do you really WANT the God of the Bible to make Himself known to you?

    • If so, WHY DO YOU WANT God to reveal Himself to you personally?

    • And, if the God of the Bible/Jesus, reveals His existence to you, THEN WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?

    Maybe those questions would help in refining your quest?

[Since you came through the Tank, you have probably seen that I have tons of long-winded articles on topics like "Why doesn’t god reveal himself more openly?" and "why do we have to SEEK God? Shouldn't HE be the one forcing Himself on us?" etc.

So, I assume you have already READ all those, and somehow find them unsatisfactory for your needs, right?

Some of the 'long articles' are:

I hope at least SOME of this information is of use to you, on this important (and adventurous, I have found!) quest, friend,

Warmly, Glenn miller

The Christian ThinkTank...[https://www.Christianthinktank.com] (Reference Abbreviations)