LIE: I can safely ignore God

Lie:      I can safely ignore God.

Truth: I can ignore God, but not safely.

We’ve become good ignorers – those who’ve learned to ignore things extraordinarily well. It seems we’ve been forced to become so as a matter of survival, especially those of us crammed into cities, stacked in apartments, employed in corporate parks where 95% of the faces that continually pass us in the halls pass as strangers – we assiduously look down or away and without a drop of conscience.

And think of all the ads, the background music/Mazak, the SMS texts, the Instagram feeds to which we’ve frivolously subscribed, the robo-calls, the signs, the spam, the junk mail, the news and information – it never stops coming. To have any chance at our own thoughts we must either learn to filter most of it out, ‘check out’ or go mad.

God designed a beautiful human faculty that filters out all kinds of noise, but today it’s heavily burdened. The point is that ‘ignoring’ is necessary – we simply cannot not ignore things and people. But this kind of ignoring is mostly involuntary and reflexive. The problem is, this involuntary ignoring can blend into actual – that is intentional – ignoring. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference; sometimes we’re so used to ignoring things and people that it becomes second nature to nonchalantly ignore important things, even the people we love and yes, even God himself.

The stakes are simply too high to get this wrong. So let me ask you: do you really want to ignore God, even unintentionally? You may say: ‘I don’t want to, but how can I be accountable for ignoring him when he’s basically imperceptible anyway?’ Good question. Let’s start there and ask: ‘How did God get so imperceptible? Was he always this way?’ and ‘Why would he hide himself anyway?’ Maybe we would not be so prone to ignore him if he were more accessible.

The truth is, though God does hide himself, he has good reason to. And he does not let us off the hook if we intentionally ignore him.

God hides himself, and for good reason

It’s a curious irony that the most glorious being (by definition) strictly hides himself, at least in this world. Yes, he does reveal himself in various ways, also under strict conditions, but most of the time he remains behind a thick veil.

The question is ‘why?’ If he wants us to worship him, why would he hide himself? There are at least four reasons.

1  He wants to give us a free choice, as free as possible

Imagine if God were personally visible, even rarely. Or, that he would show up unexpectedly in an odd place. Of course he has done this as a personal revelation.[1] But on a large scale, his appearance would easily overpower everyone within range. He would say, ‘Love one another.’ or ‘Have no other gods before me,’ or he could even say nothing at all and immediately all would bow down like dead men.

This is consistently the effect that his presence has. It completely and involuntarily disables us.[2] So it’s not surprising at all that God would restrain or disguise himself to allow us the choice to bear his image voluntarily. Of course, the consequence of God’s choice to do that is that we may not choose to bear his image after all.

2  He reveals himself only to those who want to know him.

We all hide ourselves, that is, our true self, even from ourselves. We will only start to ‘open up’ and become vulnerable when we can trust the other person, when we know they love us enough to truly listen, and when we’re fairly certain that they won’t hurt us. And of course, we’ll reveal ourselves only by degrees, in layers and certainly not all at once.

A similar dynamic exists between God and us. Believe it or not, we can ‘hurt’ God, disappoint him, grieve him, displease him.[3] We do this by our unbelief and sin. So God holds back. Yes, he continues to pursue us, but subtly, not overtly.

That said, in terms of developing a relationship with God, it’s a two-way street.

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. — Jeremiah 29:12–13

Jesus explained to the disciples that he taught in parables both to hide and to reveal the good news of the kingdom. He reveals the truths of the parables are only to those who humble themselves enough to want to learn, who refuse to think they know it all, who ask sincere and honest questions:

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. — Matthew 13:10–13

3  He reveals himself only through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

God transcends this earth and inhabits a dimension that we cannot completely understand, naturally or rationally. It’s a spiritual dimension that runs counter to the natural wisdom of man. Paul wanted to convey this truth to the Corinthian saints:

He says that we see spiritual things only by the Spirit:

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. — I Corinthians 2:9–14

This means that, to see and know God – to have a real relationship with him – we must yield our natural ways of thinking, speaking and acting to cultivate ways of thinking, speaking and acting that correspond to the ways of God and his Spirit.

An example of what Paul is talking about appears in the very next chapter of First Corinthians, which is about the natural way of sectarianism and of thoughtlessly following men.

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. — I Corinthians 3:1–7

We naturally want to promote ourselves and gravitate to those who promote themselves  and who seek the praise of men more than the praise of God. (See the article, Lie: I cannot succeed unless I promote myself.) But when we’re taught by the Spirit, we renounce those ways and start thinking, speaking and acting on this truth: I am responsible to simply do my part, but God is ultimately the One who will cause us to grow and flourish. I can only do so much, but I must do faithfully even that little bit, while at the same time trusting that God will orchestrate all things and work it all out for good. He who would be great, must become servant of all. It is this greatness that we are to seek, not ‘success.’

Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. — I Peter 5:6–7

So then, as we practice the spiritual ways of trusting in his sovereign oversight, that he is not overlooking us or neglecting us – and letting a deep trust and contentment fall over us – in that process, God slowly reveals himself.

4  He would rather focus on the story that he’s writing in our lives.

The mark of every good author is to make herself invisible. The mark of every good book or film is its ability to draw you into its story so that you effortlessly enter that world. And this is true, not just for books and movies, but for any kind of story telling or truth telling – songs, dramas, books, films – any of the arts. A good preacher will not draw attention to himself. The better he can fade into the background, the better will his audience be able to track the story and his line of thought. Any notice of the preacher himself is a distraction and interrupts the flow of the story.

God is also telling a story, a single story arc made up of many stories. Those stories are the stories of our own lives. Paul hinted at this, in his letter to the Corinthians:

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles [that is, letters] of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. — II Corinthians 3:1–3

God created us as his image bearers, as his living representatives, as those who – each of us uniquely – capture an essential facet of his glory. So we, the church, reveal to the world, the otherwise hidden God. Meanwhile he ‘hides,’ content to let his glory shine through his works and all of us.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10

Overcoming the forces that condition us to ignore God

Okay then, so God hides himself for good reason. Does that then give me permission to ignore him? The answer is no. However, to overcome our propensity to imagine that we can ignore him, we must confront the forces designed to make us think that we can. What then are the cultural forces at work to condition us to assume we can safely ignore him? There are at least four:

Secularization.[4] Simply put, many cultural and scientific changes have either reduced the credibility of religious authorities or marginalized religious belief and practice – most notably the claims of Christianity. Among these secularization forces are the false beliefs of evolution, unchecked technological progress, scientific rationalism, materialism and scientism[7] (not true science). All these inflate the power of man and the systems of man to the point that God becomes perceived as irrelevant, outdated, and unnecessary.

Affluence, personal prosperity and the growth of the middle class.[5] Generally speaking, affluence begets the false belief that our wealth enables us to live independently of God’s blessing and provision. This false belief has recurred perennially throughout history. God even warned the people of Israel that they would ‘forget him’ when they acquired the wealth of the Promised Land.

So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full — then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you — Deuteronomy 6:10–14

Idolatry, growth in the prominence and power of idols.[6] We think we can ignore the true and living God when we ennoble false gods. And the more powerful the idol appears to be, the greater and deeper the deception. Of course, God warned and forbid the people of Israel from engaging in idolatry:

‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

‘You shall have no other gods before Me.

‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. — Deuteronomy 5:6–10

Weakness of the church. The church is meant to be the kingdom of God on earth. We, as the church, are the Body of Christ, the visible representative of God in the world. At least that is God’s intent, but we often fail miserably. And because of the church’s effective absence in the world, people can more easily go astray and believe they can ‘safely’ spurn God.

How to avoid ignoring God

These and other forces set the stage for individuals and groups to wantonly turn their backs on the only One who offers true life from the dead.

So, how should we then live? In the face of an increasingly secular society, where the false gods of Google, Facebook, Wall Street and GQ appear to be winning, how should we live so that we do not end up forgetting God or, God forbid, even ignoring God?

To combat secularism – Do not consume popular media passively. Stay in fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ and encourage one another. Hear and live out the Word of God. Realize that you are in a battle for your very soul; do not live passively, but intentionally for God. “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).”

To combat affluence – Give sacrificially of your time, treasure and talents and in faith that God owns it all and takes care of his own. Even though the idea of living simply may seem to be a worthy goal in itself, it is rather a logical outcome and a by-product of giving sacrificially.

To combat idolatry – Worship and live for the only true and living God. Worship him privately; worship him with the saints; worship him by building your life around him and his truth.

To combat the absence of the church – Join and participate and become a living member of a church that seeks the unity of the Body of Christ  – a community that is a city set on a hill, that seeks to bring a compassionate witness of Christ in the world, that preaches the good news of Jesus the Messiah in word and deed.

We know instinctively that ignoring God is wrong, even though today it’s very easy to do and we appear to be getting away with it. The truth is, God is there; he is available and desires to reveal himself. We have all, at one time or another, in our sin, ignored God, maybe not overtly, but we have. The strange thing is, the more we ignore God, the more his grace and mercy are poured out and revealed, if we will only choose to see it.

See also the Introduction, Lies attacking our relationship to God.

[1] Take for example God’s revelation to the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel, chapter 1.

[2] See the stories of John on Patmos: Revelation 1:17; Moses on Mount Horeb: Exodus 3:1–6

[3] For example, see Ephesians 4:30: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

[4] See also the article: Lie: God does not exist.

[5] See also the article: Lie: I don’t need God.

[6] See also the article: Lie: Idolatry is rare, part 1 and part 2 and Lie: I can become a god, part 1 and part 2.

[7] From wiktionary.org: “Scientism is the belief that the scientific method and the assumptions and research methods of the physical sciences are applicable to all other disciplines (such as the humanities and social sciences), or that those other disciplines are not as valuable.”