Don’t your children just amaze you sometimes?!

Not too long ago, I was having a discussion with my older son Zachariah.  He just turned 4-years-old in October.  I was up against a deadline and had to get some work done immediately, but he really wanted me to play.  I don’t know if any of your children are or were like Zach, but he’s very social and doesn’t like playing alone.  He thinks a friend has to be there too, and since none of his buddies were around, and his little brother was napping, good ol’ dad was his anticipated playmate.  Our exchange went something like this:

“Dad, I want you to play with me.”

“Son, I’d love to, but I’ve really got to get this work done.  It has to be done today.  Why don’t you go upstairs and play.  Build a big house with Lincoln Logs!”

“Dad, I don’t want to go upstairs by myself,” he answered back, beginning that whiny voice that kids employ so well.  “It’s kinda dark up there and sometimes I get scared up there by myself.”

Looking for one of those teachable moments, I asked him, “Zachariah, why should you not be scared to go up stairs and play?”

He answered correctly, “Because God is always with me.”

“That’s right,” I said.  “You don’t have any reason to be scared.”

And then it happened, as matter-of-factly as possible.  “But, daddy, sometimes I wish I had a god I could see.”

Holy cow!  (Yeah, the pun was intended.)  Right there in the heart of my 4-year-old was the beginnings of something major.  To be honest, it takes a 4-year-old to say something like that because we adults wouldn’t have been so concise, profound, and blunt.  What was bubbling up in my son’s heart is what mankind has battled with since the fall, and it could lead to one of two things:  either idolatry or a hunger for the age to come.

Put your finger on almost any Old Testament page, or ancient history book for that matter, and you’ll see a multiplicity of this ancient sin of idolatry being lived out.  From the Garden of Eden to Egypt to Canaan, it’s on full display.

You probably see it most vividly in the scene in Exodus 32 when Moses had left the people of Israel for a while to go up and meet with God on Mt. Sinai:

¹Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ²Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” ⁶So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

What a low moment for the people of Israel, but people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.  How many times have you said silently or even aloud in your fallenness, “I wish I had a god I could see”?  Honestly, what struck me so much when my son said what he said was that he just put to words what I’ve felt many times.  In my ye-of-little-faith moments, I’ve said in groans and sighs what he said in words.  We all groan at times inside wishing we had a god we could see right now.

Why is that?  The answer is that a god we can see requires no faith.  In that moment when you’ve just lost your job, and you cry out, “God, are you really there?” it would certainly be easier if we could just look up in the sky or over in the corner and see God sitting there.  Then we’d be quickly reassured that He is there.  But that’s not faith.  Remember how Hebrews 11:1 defines faith, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  Again, a god I can see requires no faith, and in this age, faith is the order of the day.  As the Apostle Paul said, “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

So, fellow journeyman, as we walk, let us walk by faith.  Of course, this faith is not a blind one.  It’s an informed faith based upon objective truth revealed in Jesus Christ and the Scripture, but it’s nevertheless faith.  May we ever be on our faces before the throne of God begging Him for more faith so that we will endure, and dear one, He will supply.

But know this one truth:  the God that is invisible to us in this age will one day in the age to come be fully revealed to our very eyes, as Revelation 22:3-4 promises, “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”  What a glorious day that will be when our groans and sighs will be answered!  Therefore, don’t let your wishing for a god you can see lead you to idolatry.  Let it lead to you to hunger for the age to come when we will behold our heavenly Father face to face.

Zachariah, thank you for being so honest and helping daddy long for the day when my faith will be replaced with sight.  I pray that you will come to faith and keep the faith so that the desires of your precious heart will come to pass as well.  Come, Lord Jesus!