Why is it so hard?

Why? The question resounds. For what purpose has God made it so difficult for us to wrap our minds around Him? As far back as the collective memory of humanity goes, we have argued about what He is “like.” So, why doesn’t He just manifest Himself to each one of us and give us the final verdict? Wouldn’t that be easier? Wouldn’t it be cleaner? I have often wondered about such things…

Some would suggest that God arranged our world like this in order to allow for us to develop “faith.” The argument follows that if He simply showed Himself to us, there would be no need for faith, at least not of the Hebrews 11:1 variety (“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”). While there may be some merit to this view, I wonder if it’s the primary reason…

I just can’t seem to get away from the notion that, perhaps, God chose to reveal Himself to us in such mysterious ways for another reason. I’m deeply convinced that universally embedded within the human condition, there is a deep longing to know our Creator…but we can’t see Him! However, when we look around, we find ourselves immersed in the midst of people that somehow bear His image! It seems, then, that one of the main ways in which God has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind is through the encounter with his image-bearing creation: man. In some sense, we find it impossible to know God outside of this encounter. This is how God has set it up: He has forced us to seek Him in community! And while man constantly betrays that image, one man, Jesus Christ, was able to fully and accurately represent it. As a result, our search for God must be both centered around Jesus, following his example, and done in community.

Maybe God has given us this deep-seeded, yet unfulfilled longing, so that we would never be fully satisfied (at least not in this world), so that we would continue to seek after Him with all that we are; to obsess over knowing Him. A man who has eaten his fill does not often obsess over seeking more food. Sometimes it is only in the lacking that we earnestly seek to be satisfied. Maybe that’s why it seems so hard sometimes. Maybe it's by design, just as hunger is by design. Maybe God knows what He’s doing after all…