{"id":725,"date":"2018-12-27T14:30:50","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T14:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/?p=725"},"modified":"2018-12-27T14:30:50","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T14:30:50","slug":"god-hide-supernatural-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/nextsteps\/2018\/12\/god-hide-supernatural-us.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Does God Hide the Supernatural From Us?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"unsplash-logoJaroslav
Jaroslav Devia<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why is the supernatural hidden? Why would God hide the supernatural if\u00a0He wants us to engage with it? Here are two reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/b><\/b>1. To remind us there\u2019s <\/b><\/span>more<\/b><\/span> out there than what we can simply <\/b><\/span>see<\/b><\/span>.\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Have you ever gotten distracted from what\u2019s truly important because you were distracted by what you saw in front of you?\u00a0<\/span>Have you ever gotten so caught up in a career that you lost your family, and you realized that by chasing a promotion or fame and recognition or even worse, something as unfulfilling as money, that you woke up one day and realized you lost your kid\u2019s childhood, you lost your family, you lost what was really important to you?\u00a0<\/span>Have you ever gotten so caught up in something as momentary as social media, where you became so enraptured by how perfect everyone else\u2019s life seemed to be that you forgot to appreciate the incredible life you\u2019ve been blessed with? Sometimes what we see can be a distraction.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think one of the main reasons the supernatural remains hidden is to remind us that there is more out there than what we can simply see.\u00a0<\/span>As humans, it\u2019s taken us thousands of years to truly appreciate this truth.\u00a0<\/span>You can\u2019t see the wind, but if you\u2019ve lived through a hurricane you know the wind is there. If you\u2019ve ever gotten sick, you can\u2019t see the parasites or germs that have infected you but you can\u2019t deny it\u2019s existence.\u00a0<\/span>Even today, with all of the advancement in medical technology, we can do scans on your brain, we can tell you how much it weighs and can map it out, but we can\u2019t know what you\u2019re thinking. Your mind, your personality, that part of you that\u2019s unique that makes you \u2018you,\u2019 what we might call your soul or your spirit, is unseen, but it\u2019s very much real and we all live it everyday. <\/span><\/p>\n

I think the supernatural is hidden to always remind us that there\u2019s more out there than what we can simply see.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>2. To motivate us to <\/b><\/span>seek God.\u00a0<\/b><\/span>We were created with this insatiable desire to know what we don\u2019t know, to see what we can\u2019t yet see.\u00a0<\/span>Let\u2019s play out a little scenario: Let\u2019s say you\u2019re at your desk at work or school or you\u2019re at home having dinner with the family or even better, right before you go to bed, once you decide you\u2019re tired, you\u2019ve stayed up too late and you need to go to bed. <\/span>Your phone is nearby, but it\u2019s out of sight. You can\u2019t see your screen. And you hear the default notification sound (ding) letting you know someone is trying to tell you something through your phone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Try hearing that sound, and see how long you can force yourself not to look. I mean, you\u2019re right in the middle of an important task, you\u2019re eating with the family, or even worse, you\u2019re trying to fall asleep. How many of you could do it? How many of you could go to sleep, not knowing who the sound is from?<\/span><\/p>\n

I mean, what if it\u2019s important? What if it\u2019s a friend that\u2019s in need? What if it\u2019s an important opportunity that has to be seized right now? The more we think about it, the more we want to know, the more we HAVE to know. I mean, what if it\u2019s the President, and he\u2019s got a top secret mission with Tom Cruise to save the world from a nuclear catastrophe, and I have to respond NOW!?!<\/span><\/p>\n

So what do we do? What we always do. Our curiosity, our need to know, always win, so we reach over and look at our phone. And do you know what it is? It\u2019s Talking Tom, notifying you that you haven\u2019t played with him in 15 minutes and he\u2019s lonely.<\/span><\/p>\n

We all have this insatiable curiosity to know what\u2019s out there, and God put it there. I think God hid the supernatural so that our insatiable curiosity would drive us to seek God and know Him. In fact, when the Apostle Paul was talking to a group of first century skeptics who didn\u2019t believe in God or Jesus, he said the same thing:<\/span><\/p>\n

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason the supernatural is hidden, to remind us that there\u2019s more to life than what we can simply see, and to motivate us to follow our insatiable curiosity and seek after God.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why is the supernatural hidden? Why would God hide the supernatural if\u00a0He wants us to engage with it? Here are two reasons: 1. To remind us there\u2019s more out there than what we can simply see.\u00a0Have you ever gotten distracted from what\u2019s truly important because you were distracted by what you saw in front of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[27,30,190,358],"class_list":["post-725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-next-steps","tag-god","tag-hidden","tag-spiritual","tag-supernatural"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Does God Hide the Supernatural From Us? - Next Steps<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why does God hide the supernatural from us? 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Josh graduated from New Orleans Seminary with a Masters of Divinity and a Doctor of Ministry. Josh has been involved in full-time ministry for over twenty years. He enjoys hiking, beach volleyball, reading, playing anything competitive, and rough-housing with his kids. Josh, his gorgeous wife Robin, his outrageously handsome boys Zeke, Shepherd and Lincoln and his princess Elle, live in northern Virginia. Josh also blogs on Patheos as New Wineskins: an Apologist for the Modern Church and you can find links to all his content on joshdaffern.com. 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