WHY WOULD GOD NOT REVEAL HIMSELF TO THE WORLD?
At some point in life, this question becomes very real. It is asked not only by atheists, but also by believers. Even God’s children sometimes wonder: Why do my prayers feel as if they are hitting a cast-iron ceiling? Why don’t I sense God’s presence? Why doesn’t He simply reveal Himself openly?
In such moments, it is easy to confuse the leading of the Holy Spirit with our own thoughts. For skeptics, this becomes direct evidence that God does not exist — after all, He does not reveal Himself. Even small children wrestle with this question. Recently, my four-year-old daughter Eva asked me: “Daddy, where is God? Why can’t I see Him?”
Basically, when it comes to this question, the following arguments are often raised:
1. If God exists, He would reveal Himself to us.
Since God is omniscient and sees from a perspective far beyond ours, He must have reasons for not clearly revealing Himself to humanity. He does not act according to our expectations or desires: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).
At first glance, this seems to contradict Christianity, since the Bible says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Scripture also affirms that Jesus is the only way to salvation: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
This raises a question: those who do not come to Him and do not believe face eternal consequences. Wouldn’t it seem logical, then, for God to reveal Himself openly to the world? Why leave humanity to struggle in search of the truth?
The answer lies in the gift of free will — our ability to make choices and decisions without coercion or outside interference. Free will is essential for truly loving God. Otherwise, our love would not be genuine; we would be like robots.
If God revealed Himself openly, we would be deprived of the right to choose to love Him according to our free will. We would have no real choice. And could we then love Him with all our heart, soul, and understanding? As Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote in A Raw Youth: “There is no winning love by force.”
In such a scenario, faith would cease to be faith — we would be forced to believe in Him. In the present situation, however, God gives us the opportunity and freedom to sincerely seek Him or to turn away and reject Him. And His Word promises: “… you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 4:29).
From here, we move on to the next argument.
2. God has not revealed Himself to us in any way.
In other words, He has not made His existence immediately apparent to us. However, it is important to recognize that God has revealed Himself sufficiently to be found. We see evidence of Him:
- in the existence of the Universe;
- in the existence of objective moral values;
- in signs of intelligent design within biology;
- in the precise harmony and interconnection of physical laws between the Earth and the entire Universe;
- in the truth and verified accounts of the Holy Scriptures (historical, moral, and other);
- in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (as a historical fact, confirmed by sources outside the Bible);
- in the testimony of the Holy Spirit within us.
And the latter plays an even more crucial role than all the previous points combined. Indeed, for Christ to reveal Himself in the life of a person who seeks Him (note: one who seeks with all their heart), He Himself gives us the answer to how He can be found and manifested to us — that is, how He can become real for us personally, not merely a product of our imagination:
"Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." (John 14:21)
Just reflect on these words, friends, for in them is life — life in abundance. It is eternal life.
However, for many people, evidence is never enough. Yet, despite this abundance of facts and evidence, they have no excuse. After all, God’s thoughts and ways are not ours. He often points and says, “Look here!” — but we, like small children stamping our feet, demand that He appear exactly as we want. In these moments, we are confronted with a choice.
So, if God were to reveal Himself to the world more openly than He already has, we would lose the opportunity to seek Him freely, to believe in Him, and to love Him. Instead, He provides sufficient revelation in His Word, as well as through observation of creation, so that we can come to faith in Him:
"For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20)
Do you hear, friends? There is no excuse for such people. In other words, you do not need a scientific degree to see the incredible design of your eyes, the cells of your body, or the world around you — it is enough to recognize that such thoughtful design must have a Designer.
At the same time, the Lord promises that anyone who seeks Him with all their heart will surely find Him. Christ Himself says:
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." (Matt. 7:7–8)
Helping others understand where and how to seek God is the responsibility not only of preachers, but also of parents. If you are already a child of God, do people see Christ in you? Can they easily find Him by observing the testimony of your life?
“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
“Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:1, 6)
