Invisible

 

One of the attributes of God which makes it easy for people to say they don’t believe in Him is His invisibility. People can somehow ignore the heavens’ declaration of the glory of God and the earth’s display of His handiwork. Some want to claim they believe only what they can see, handle, or work with according to the scientific method. (Then they attribute those physical things to some
invisible “force” or to macro evolution, which cannot be proven by the scientific method. We won’t go into the illogic of that here.) The writer of the book of Romans tells us, in the very first chapter, “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”

We are visible and may consider it a virtue of sorts. People have to accept our existence because they can see, hear, and touch us. But, in fact, mankind has often fought against our own visibility because it is limiting! What child has not, at some time, wished to be invisible, usually in order to get away with something otherwise forbidden or to escape an uncomfortable situation? What sci-fi author has not produced, or at least considered, a book, TV program, movie, or article with an antagonist or protagonist who could become invisible at will?

A particular annoyance of visibility is that it shows our changes. Aging, for instance. Oh, sorry, I could have skipped that one. I recently received a photo of our 9-year-old granddaughter with a cast on her arm. If we were invisible, people couldn’t see our temporary or permanent weaknesses. They also couldn’t see our defenses or our weapons or even our location. The invisible person would always have some advantages over the visible person.

So while we recognize a desire to escape the limits of visibility ourselves, we want the Almighty, The Eternal One, who is in all and sustains all, to limit Himself by showing Himself to us! If He is in all and through all, making even our atoms work moment by moment, He cannot be visible to our finite eyes. If He is big enough to create the entire universe as the “work of His fingers,” he cannot be visible to us. We do need to see Him to note His changes, as He does not change. People who look for a visible god are wishing for a tiny god, one made in our image.

Once upon a time, the time being within a few years of 1 A.D., God did limit Himself and become visible as the Son, "the image of the invisible God." (Col. 1:15) And what happened? People said He couldn't be God. Since He was limited to a visible being, they were able to kill Him.

When you are helping a person who struggles with believing in a God who can't be seen or touched, remind that person that He wouldn't be the God of the univese if He were so limited! HIs invisibility is part of His God-ness! "To the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen" (I Timothy 1:17) 

--Lynda Shenefield