Why doesn't God show Himself?

At our You and Your Girl events, we often survey our preteen girls to discover the kinds of questions they are asking. We told them they could ask God a question or ask us a question about God.

While some of their questions are pretty funny, others reveal a generation that needs answers. I thought I’d share some of the most intruiging questions they asked:

If God knows everything about me, is he ever surprised with my actions?

If, when God created the world (it was perfect), then why did he create the devil?

Why do Hope and Tori fight all the time?

Why does he make people?

Can you please explain the rapture? (if you can explain it to a preteen, please tell me!)

What did I do to deserve to be forgiven?

Why is Shelby being mean to me?

There were lots of questions about what God looks like. Girls wanted to know if God had a beard. Or if he wore tennis shoes (I’ve always pictured sandals myself). They wanted to know if God had a middle name.

In some form or another, girls asked one question more than any other:

Why doesn’t God show Himself?

What I sense underneath this question is the need to see a glimpse of God doing the miraculous, somehow making an appearance in their complicated, confusing, constantly changing world. I know they feel sometimes like God is somewhere out there, hiding behind the highest cloud. I’ve felt that way myself sometimes. They need some reminder, some tangible assurance that they’re not alone in this thing called life.

What they don’t understand is that God has shown Himself—through Jesus. And He still shows Himself—through us.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that we should be set up on some idolizing pedestal. Nor am I advocating a codependent relationship whereby girls become attached to us instead of the Savior. And I’m definitely not insinuating that you and I must somehow attain some sort of legalistic standard perfection that we expect girls to follow.

What I am saying is this: when we reaching out to girls with God’s love, they are seeing a tiny fractal of God’s relentless pursuit of them (Luke 15:11-32).

When we stand by their sides in the midst of their worst pain, we echo the voice of God who counts their tears (Ps. 56:8).

When we enjoy spending time with them at softball games, prom preparation, lock-ins, and mission trips, we remind them that Jesus didn’t spend all of His time at the synagogue (John 2:1-11).

When we assure them that no mistake they make is beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness, we are the voice of God encouraging them to return to Him (Joel 2:12-13). 

While girls may not recognize the hand of God working through us, it makes all the difference for us to know that we are somehow a part of a mosaic that girls can later reflect on and realize that God was there all along.