Seeing God!

My favourite memory regarding "seeing" God is from my time in a certain Secondary School in Scotland. It was probably a pupil in S3 (14-15 years of age, for those unfamiliar with the Scottish education system) as I discovered that it was at about that stage in life that many young people realise that they know everything about everything, whilst the adult at the front of the classroom knows nothing about anything! (I don't, of course, tar all young people with the same brush!).  The conversation went something like this:

Pupil: "Sir, you believe in God, don't you?"

Me: "Yes."

Pupil: "Sir, have you ever seen God?"

Me: "In the sense in which you are asking, No!"

Pupil: "So Sir, how can you believe in something that you haven't even seen?"

This, of course, was the point at which the pupil had that look of "I've got him now. No way can he wriggle out of this one!"

Having learned from the Master, I answered the question with a question! Having ascertained that this pupil was studying Physics for his Standard Grade public examinations, I asked if he had ever seen a quark! Not only had he never seen one - he didn't even know the word! I suggested that he ask his Physics teacher of he believed in the existence of quarks. I went on: "He will tell you that he does. Then ask him if he has ever seen one. He will tell you that he hasn't. Then put the same question to him and, when you return with his answer, I will give you mine!"

Needless to say, the subject was never raised again - in that class!

The subject returned to my mind when I came across an article that dealt with some words from Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titoy who, in August 1961, became the second man to be fired out into space, and the first to spend a full day orbiting planet Earth. I was also reminded of some words that he spoke on his return: "Some people say that there is a God ... but in my travels around the earth all day long, I looked around and didn't see Him ... I saw no God nor angels. ... I don't believe in God. I believe in man, his strength, his possibilities, his reason." What the article failed to mention was the reported response of an American astronaut: "He should have stepped outside his capsule."!!

Now, of course Titoy didn't "see" God - any more than I have done so, or that anyone has visibly "seen" a quark! "God is Spirit" (John 4:24) and we do not "see" Him with our eyes in the way we see flesh-and-blood beings. However, just as my physicist friends believe in the existence of quarks because of the evidence for them, so I believe in the existence of the all-powerful, all-wise, eternal, Creator God because the evidences for His existence are so prevalent in nature that anyone with an open mind is hard-pressed to explain them without acknowledging His reality. It's little wonder that David, the psalmist-king of Israel, declared that "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God'!" (Ps.14:1; 53:1. see also 10:4).

All that we need to do is to gaze, through a telescope, into the infinity of space, or peer through a microscope at the minutest elements in creation (although we still won't 'see' a quark!), to appreciate the wisdom, design, power, beauty, order, and laws of Almighty God. Paul wrote: "... what can be known about God is plain ..., because God has shown it ... . Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made." (Rom 1:19-20). Someone has said: "All creation is an outstretched finger pointing towards God." David wrote: "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork." (Ps 19:1).

Please don't be like my former pupil, or like that foolish cosmonaut! Open your eyes to the revelation of God in nature. Give to Him the glory and honour that He deserves.