I’m not saying that God isn’t obvious, but that is a major reason in what I’ve read and heard of and for professing atheism and agnosticism. It’s also something I’ve thought about myself. God doesn’t go around announcing Himself in the ways people think He would if He existed. God doesn’t show Himself in a manner that people expect.
Outside of earth’s atmosphere, space does not befriend life. Space combats, resists, or repels life, everywhere but on planet earth. No proof exists of any life beyond what is on earth. Scientists have not found another planet that they know could support life, even if life could occur somewhere else.
No one knows the immensity of space. We can see that all of space is very big, and of course exponentially times larger than the square footage of earth. Incalculable numbers of very hot and large suns or stars are shining upon uninhabited planets. Numbers beyond our comprehension of astronomical objects fly on trajectories and in paths everywhere in space. That is a very, very large amount of space with nothing alive and apparently serving very little to no purpose. To many, they seem pointless and could not serve as depictions of God’s beauty and power and precision for such a tiny audience.
Another angle I hear relates to suffering. God doesn’t show up to alleviate suffering to the extent people expect from a loving God. Suffering comes in many different fashions, not just disease but also crime and war. The periods of clear direct intervention from God to stop suffering are few and far between and long ago. Essentially the Bible documents those events and circumstances, which are not normative for today.
According to scripture, God is a Spirit (John 4:24), which means you can’t see Him. John 1:18 and 1 John 4:12 say, “No man hath seen God at any time.” One reason God isn’t obvious is that no one can see Him. That does not mean He doesn’t reveal Himself, but it is not by appearing to us. In human flesh, Jesus revealed God to us (John 1:18). 1 Samuel 3:21 says, “the LORD revealed himself.” Romans 1:19 says, “Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.”
God reveals Himself now through providence in history, creation, conscience, and in scripture. Those are not obvious to most people. They want, what I like to call, the crown performance. The King or Queen sit and someone comes to entertain in their presence. People want more from God, but God doesn’t give that. God deserves the crown performance. He wears the crown. He doesn’t give the crown performances.
Seek God
I believe there are four main reasons God isn’t as obvious as people want Him to be. One, God wants to be sought after. I often say that God doesn’t want the acknowledgement of His existence like we would acknowledge the existence of our right foot. Five times scripture says, “Seek God,” twenty-seven times, “seek the Lord,” twice, “seek his face,” and thirteen times, “seek him,” speaking of God. A good example of God’s desire here is Deuteronomy 4:29:
But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
God in His sovereignty chose to have us seek Him. That is who He is.
The lesser seeks the greater. Seeking God recognizes God’s greatness. It is humble. It is for us to say, “I want to know you,” rather than waiting on God to come to us. I’m not saying He doesn’t come to us in the way He prescribes, but He wants us to seek Him and come to Him. How obvious God is pertains to His wanting us to seek Him.
Pride and lust get in the way of not seeking God. Those exalting themselves above God will not seek God. They seek after what they exalt, which is their own lust. Men walk after their own lust and this inhibits seeking after God. Men serve the creature rather than the Creator.
God has done everything for us. We’ve done nothing for Him. It should be us seeking Him. It must be.
Believe God
Faith pleases God. The way God reveals Himself requires faith from men. Faith is not be sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). When we see God, it won’t be faith any more. Paul wrote that faith wasn’t eternal (1 Corinthians 13). Faith occurs in this age. The way God reveals Himself is good enough for the one who believes. Only the one who believes receives eternal life with God (John 3:15,16,36).
Far few believe than do not believe. Most men operate by sight. The degree and manner God reveals Himself is not good enough for them. Out of pride and lust, they require more. Even if they got more, it wouldn’t be good enough for them. They are not willing to deny themselves (Luke 9:23).
The heroes of the faith, like those in Hebrews 11, obeyed not having seen. Consider these verses in Hebrews 11 related to this matter of sight:
Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:7, By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Hebrews 11:13, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Abraham went to the Promised Land, not having seen it. Hebrews 11:8 says “he went out, not knowing where he was going.” This was blind obedience.
God wants us believing and obeying because He said it. Jesus said in Matthew 12:39, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign.” Signs are God showing more evidence. People surmise that God isn’t being obvious enough. They want more, so they hold Him hostage to giving more, or they won’t believe or obey.
Men Rebel
The third reason God isn’t as obvious as people expect corresponds to their sin and rebellion. Man’s problem relates to how God gets him His message. Man gets the understanding of God through revelation, because his problem is sin and rebellion. Man can’t discover, which is a natural pursuit. God reveals, which is a supernatural solution.
Romans 1:18 says that men “hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Many of you know that “hold the truth” means “suppress the truth.” Men’s unrighteousness makes them suppress the truth. The problem is not an intellectual one, one that says it needs more proof. The problem is a volitional one, men are rebellious, which requires a supernatural solution. The Bible is that solution. It is divine. It is powerful (Hebrews 4:12).
Man’s problem of rebellion necessitates God’s revelation as the solution, not God being more obvious. Men don’t know this without God telling them, but even if they got more evidence, the kind they thought they needed, they wouldn’t take it. They think they would take it, but God says they wouldn’t.
Scripture reveals eras of miracles. When miracles were given, the “obvious proof,” the crown performance, men were not persuaded. God uses the weak things of the world, Paul writes (1 Corinthians 1:27), which describes the gospel. The gospel isn’t weak. It’s just weak to men. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. When it works to save men, God also gets the glory for it (1 Corinthians 1:31).
God’s Glory
I’m adding this fourth reason because the way God works results in His glory. He uses a means that doesn’t glorify men, but glorifies Him. Man is helpless, so God uses a means that man wouldn’t use. Man would be more obvious. God does what in the end will glorify Him. No man will say he got saved because he was clever. It requires no cleverness. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
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