Friday, October 5, 2007

For Sunday October 6 - A Revealing God


How does God show himself? A central truth of our faith is that God does, in fact, reveal himself. We even have a book of the bible called Revelation! I got to thinking about all the ways God reveals who he is, what his plans are, what he's like. And, as often happens, I started to try to put some parameters around the sermon by thinking about a defined number of ways God reveals himself. For instance, "God reveals himself in these 3 ways...." Then it hit me how silly that is - as if God limits himself to certain ways of relating and showing himself to us. In fact, it appears that God enjoys popping up in a endless number of ways. He talks through a donkey, he thunders, he speaks from a burning bush and through dreams, he whispers on a mountain, he writes on a wall, he talks through prophets, he shouts through creation, he breaths fire in judgment, he shares his heart through his Laws and through his Son; he uses dozens of people to write books and letters (the Bible)....the list goes on and on.
Having said that, there do seem to be ways that God most often reveals himself. Maybe that's what the Psalmist is talking about here in Psalm 119, which is the longest of all the Psalms. The amazing reality is, God Interacts with us. In fact, an argument could be made that the central reason God even created humans was so that he could relate to a creature that he had made like himself, in his own image.
Yet God is still elusive, or seems that way. The Psalmist said,
My eyes fail, looking for your promise;
I say, "When will you comfort me?"
Though I am like a wineskin in the smoke,
I do not forget your decrees.
How long must your servant wait?

Though it is so very clear that God does reveal himself, an equally strong thread through scripture is that God feels far away or hidden. That's what the Psalmist feels at times. He feels farthest away when we wish him to be the closest. Why is that? Is it simply our faulty perception, or does God really draw back - and if so, why? Your thoughts are welcome - and check out the question to the right. - Curtis

2 comments:

  1. For me, a couple of the major ways that God reveals himself are in creation, and in history. These are considered General Revelation, as contrasted to Special Revelation where God speaks through words. But in observing nature in all its complexity, God's power and wisdom seem to come through especially clearly.

    The other thing that stands out to me is the survival of God's chosen people, the Jews, over all these centuries. None of the other ancient peoples has survived, with the possible exception of Egypt. Many governments have tried to destroy them, from Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria in the past to the inquisition, Hitler, and Arab nations today. And yet they survive strongly and blessed by God. This is truly a God who keeps his promises.

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  2. Ah ha! I have two ways very recently!

    First, this Thursday. I had been home all week with migraines and had gone to the doctor out of desperation. After a failed attempt of remedying my pain with no narcotics, I ended up having to have a Morphine shot. I was hoping there was another alternative because of the risk of "rebound headaches" from narcotics. My body didn't take to the only alternative. Long story short, I was home in bed and once the meds started warring off, the pangs of another migraine started. I closed my eyes and prayed though pain and tears that He would just please let me have relief and not let me have a rebound. I fell asleep, and woke up feeling 100% better, no rebound headache!

    Second, last night. Actually, this morning since it was 3:30am. I woke from a very odd dream with a very familiar praise song in my head. The song WOULD NOT get out of my head and I finally realized two things: one - this song had not yet been written. Two - I was not going to sleep the rest of the night unless I wrote it down. So, I got my paper and pen and wrote down enough verses in the bathroom so I would remember the jist of the song! The final draft to be released at a later date.

    So, there you have prayer form and dream form.

    ~Sam

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Thanks for posting!