God Gives You Space

for the Hanford Sentinel

One of the arguments that I hear frequently against God’s existence sounds something like this: If God exists and He wants to have a relationship with us, then why doesn’t He simply show Himself? There are a whole bunch of things wrong about this argument, but my guess is that you have heard some version of it many times. Sometimes it is used when people are angry because they feel that their life has somehow been unfair and “if God were real, why would He let this happen?”. Other times, people use it as a way to supposedly prove that God isn’t out there.

And while this argument is very common, it is just not a very good one. The reason why God doesn’t frequently appear in visible form just to prove His existence is because, God gives you space.

Here’s the deal. If God wants to have a relationship with us, an authentic, real, two-way relationship, then He has to give us the ability to say “no.” For us to be able to say “no” to an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving Being is pretty difficult if He is standing right in front of us. Frankly, that would be nearly impossible. Even if we wanted to say “no”, we would find it extremely difficult.

You can see the way this works in the story of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Before they ate of the forbidden fruit and sin entered into the world, the Scriptures tell us that they walked with God and that they were “naked and unashamed.”

But when they sinned and ate of the fruit, an interesting thing happened. Adam and Eve hide from God. It’s a little comical because, after all, how do you hide from God? You can’t! That is, unless God allows you to. And that is exactly what we see happen. God called out to Adam and said, “Adam where are you?”

You see, God was giving Adam space. He was allowing Adam to hide because something had entered into their relationship that separated them. No longer was there free an open communication without any shame. Adam’s relationship with God had been changed by his sin.

And so in our world today, it is the same way. God calls out to us and asks, “Where are you?” It is up to us whether we answer Him or not. He is wants to have a relationship with us, but He has decided to not force Himself upon us.

The question we all have to answer is not “where is God” but “where are you?”

This weekend the pastors in Kings County would love to help you reconnect with the Father who calls out to us. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating how much difference a real relationship with Father God will make in your life.

Andrew Cromwell is the executive pastor at Koinonia Christian Fellowship in Hanford. E-mail him at andrew@kcfchurch.org or call 582-1528.