Where are you, God?

From June 16, 2011

I'm reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, and something he wrote just blew my mind.  Forreal, I think I had an epiphany.

So this is a highly-placed demon talking, and he's writing to his nephew(also a demon), who is on a mission to get a newly-converted Christian to turn his back on God and end up in hell. He's talking about God:

"You must have often wondered why the Enemy(God) does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment.  But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use.  Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would do) would be for Him useless."

Wow. Just wow. I don't know why this never occurred to me before. But OF COURSE this is why God doesn't reveal himself more clearly to us. It makes perfect sense. If he was to really show us the fullness of his glory and his beauty, we would have no choice but to worship and adore him. It would be our immediate and automatic response. (That IS what we were made for.) But that's not his design, to force us to love him. He gives us free will. He wants us to choose him. That's why he withholds the fullness of his presence & power from us. Not only would we probably fall out dead because he is so holy, but if we did survive, we would be so caught up in his majesty that we wouldn't have the ability to reject him or choose our own way. He has to leave room for doubts-otherwise, we wouldn't really be choosing him or walking by faith. [[ "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for & certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1]] 

If God showed us himself fully or allowed us to "feel" his presence without holding back, he wouldn't really be exercising love. Love doesn't push itself on others. God is love. He won't push himself on us.

Some of you may have already come to this realization, but for me this just reassured me that when God doesn't speak audibly to me, or make me feel his love in a really strong way, he's doing it for my good. He's developing faith in me, and "without faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb 11:6)