Perceiving God

We will never see God with our human eyes. He is Spirit; He is invisible (Jn. 4:24; Col. 1:15, 16; 1 Tim. 1:17; Heb. 11:27). But people sometimes say, “I just spent some time in nature and really got close to God; I really felt God; I saw God.” What does this mean? Is it an escape from civilization that makes an experience in nature seem spiritual? Or is the experience of nature in its pure form somehow enlightening, or even informative?

Paul clues us in a little when he says, “For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, (even) His everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse” (Rom 1:20 ASV). God gave us the created world so that we could perceive His eternal power and His divine nature; two things that are invisible, yet seen through nature.

Suppose you were able to trade in your human eyes for spiritual eyes. What might you see? You would see the same thing that angels, demons, and God Himself sees. Ever realized that demons can perceive God more perfectly than we can? They literally see His eternal power, His divinity, His perfect love, and surely many other things that are reserved for us in eternity. Demons laugh at atheism, but are happy to perpetuate it! They are glad that we don’t see God as they do, because it means we don’t tremble as much as we should (Jms. 2:19).

But we have physical eyes – enter Christ incarnate – the Spirit of God in a physical body. While we can see the power of God in nature, we can never come to actually know Him through nature. Only through His visible Son can the invisible Father be approached and fully seen. So many people look for God where they will never find Him, while Christ is in plain view.

-Cary Gillis D.Min.

July 31, 2021