Seeing God

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Colossians 1:15

              Until recently, I had been going through a bit of a dry season when it came to my relationship with God. Though in my head I knew that God never has and never will abandon me, my flawed and corrupted emotions often try to tell me otherwise- that when I sin, God turns His face away or that when I make a wrong decision God is shaking His head at me in disappointment. Often my instinct is to therefore turn away from God and give us both some time to “cool off”, as I would with a friend or a family member with whom I had argued or had conflict with.

              Though I could not see this at the time, looking back, I can see that my biggest problem was really that unlike with a family member or a friend, I cannot physically come to God in order to “make things right”. I cannot look Him in the face and see how He feels about me in the moment; I cannot see if I am coming at a “good time” for Him. Of course, looking back on this now it seems rather silly, to think that there is a bad time for God or that because I cannot physically see Him I cannot know how He feels about me. But issues that are daunting at the time always seem rather silly when you are on the other side of them, don’t they?

              One night, as I was laying in bed and praying while I waited for sleep to come, I was reflecting on 1 Corinthians 13:9-10, which reads as follows, “For we know in part and we prophecy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” (NASB) As of late, Satan had managed to convince me that God’s feelings and love towards me fell under the “seeing in part” that is discussed in the letters to the Corinthians. I had become (wrongly) convinced that because I can’t see God, I can’t connect with God. I was thinking of how true this seemed to be, especially considering the season I was in, when a phrase hit me- look to Jesus. I have said this countless times to so many others, and even many times to myself over the past year or so, as God has done a great work in my heart of turning me more towards Christ. However, I had become distracted. I had began to decide for myself how I ought to relate to God and how He feels about me, forgetting (or perhaps being blinded to) the fact that God has fully expressed Himself in Christ Jesus. Paul writes beautifully in his letter to the Colossians…

 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)

              The fullness of God has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ, who is the center of all things! Okay- but what does that actually mean? And what does that mean for our lives?

              It means that if you want to see God’s sovereignty, look to Jesus. Nothing about Jesus’ life was accidental or incidental. From the very timing of His birth (Gal. 4:4) to His death (1 Peter 1:18-20, Revelation 13:8) God had not only foreseen but had ordained Jesus’ life and even revealed it to His people beforehand.

Even the darkest day in human history- the day Jesus died- was planned by the Father. Though God is without sin and darkness Himself, He will use the sin and darkness of this earth to accomplish His purposes. As I reflect on this, I think of Joseph, his multi-colored coat, and his jealous brothers who sold him into slavery because of his position as their father’s favorite child. As his brothers later came to him and recanted of their actions, Joseph makes a statement that is so fitting also for the torture and death of Christ. He says, “What you intended for evil, God intended for good.” (Genesis 50:20). And so it is with Jesus- what Satan and the Sanhedrin and the Romans intended for evil, God intended for good. He intended to send Jesus to live the life we could never live and die the death that we deserved before we even existed.

              It means that if you want to see God’s holiness, look to Jesus. God is perfect and holy and without any sin. He will not allow sin in His presence and He will not allow sin to go unpunished, because for Him to allow sin to go unpunished would make him less than good. However, God is not less than good and therefore will not allow sin to go unpunished (Numbers 14:18, Proverbs 11:21, Job 10:14). That is why God sent Jesus to take our punishment upon Himself- He loved us and so desired for us to know Him, but the fact is that we are sinners and for God to allow us as we are into His presence would be an offence to Him. Therefore, our sin had to be punished, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and God is not one to wink at sin. But God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to pay the full penalty of our crimes, enabling us to be cleansed and therefore to be given full access to His presence.

              It means that if you want to see God’s love, look to Jesus! Again, the price needed to be paid for our sin and God in His holiness and goodness could not merely overlook it. It had to be paid for. However, Jesus coming and paying for it was not coercion on either part. God did not have to convince Jesus to do it and Jesus did not have to force God to accept His sacrifice.  All three members of the Godhead were in full agreement about Jesus’ life and mission (see Luke 3:21-22 and John 5:19). And they did it because they loved us and want to know us intimately. Even while we still rebelled against Him and hated Him, even before we were born, He loved us and was already beginning to draw us to Himself (Romans 5:8).

              The list goes on and on. I was trying to “find God” using a map of my own making- namely, my feelings- when God had already revealed Himself fully to me in Jesus, who is the Word become flesh and all the fullness of God revealed to us. Of course there is no “good time” for a sinner to come to God- there is no time when a sinner will be ready to face God on His own. That is why God came to us. And it is why He continues to be there for us. On our own before we were redeemed by Christ, we were dead in sin and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1) and if we rely on ourselves or on our ability to climb up to God or to make ourselves worthy, we are completely hopeless. But God loved us so much that He came to us and lifted us from the miry clay of sin and death- and not only that, but He continues to preserve us until that day when we do see Him face to face (1 Corinthians 1:21-22, Ephesians 1:13-14).

              Though we cannot see God face to face now, we can find everything we need for life and salvation in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as you feel distant from God and desire to know how He feels about you, look to Jesus and find comfort.