"The angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven" Matthew 18:10

What would it be like to see the face of God? What is He really like? When our youngest daughter was small, we sent her off to a summer camp on Cape Cod. When she arrived, the counselor gathered all the other girls together who would be living in the same cabin with my daughter and inquired,

"Do you know who Rachel-Ruth's grandfather is?"

A little chorus went up from the circle of campers, "Noooo, who is Rachel-Ruth's grandfather?"

Then the counselor replied in a very dramatic tone of voice, "Rachel-Ruth's grandfather is the world famous Billy Graham!"

As the counselor paused for effect, one little camper spoke up and said in an awed voice, "You mean Billy Graham the wrestler?"

To which another much more worldly-wise young lady said, as she elbowed the first one in the ribs, "No, stupid, Billy Graham the singer."

While the young girls recognized his name, knew he was important and famous, none of those little campers really knew who Rachel-Ruth's grandfather was!

I find many people today have the same kind of vague knowledge of God. They know He is up there somewhere, they may even be familiar with His Name, and they know He is famous and important and powerful, but they haven't a clue as to Who He really is! This is illustrated by the incredible diversity of people who claim they know God:

Reverend Jesse Jackson and Senator Jesse Helms, President Bill Clinton and President Boris Yeltsin, Yassar Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu, Pope John Paul and the Rev. Sun Moon, Billy Graham and Jimmy Swaggart, Saddam Hussein and George Bush, Imelda Marcus, former first lady of the Philippines who was reported to have more than three thousand pairs of shoes in her closet, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India, who is reported to have no shoes at all in her closet.

All of these people say they know God! But do all these people, who live out such extremely different lives and beliefs, really know God as He truly is, or do some of them just know something about Him?

How does one go about knowing God? The Apostle John tells us that "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light. In him is no darkness at all." The primary characteristic of light is to reveal itself. John was giving us the astounding truth that God has revealed Himself to us through the "message" of the apostles and prophets that we refer to as our Bible. This thrilling self-revelation begins in Genesis with the stunning yet profoundly simple statement that, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

The Bible's opening statement reveals that God is eternal. He is not bound by time and the limitations of the past, present and future, minutes and hours, days and nights, weeks and years. Neither is He bound by space. Gravity, prison walls, national borders, inches, miles and light years are insignificant to Him.

As God, He is also greater than anything in Creation and He is separate from it. While you may see reflections of His glory in a beautiful sunset, or in some other aspect of nature, you will not find God contained "in" anything. If nuclear war broke out and planet Earth was blown to bits, nothing of God would be destroyed. Atomic bombs, jet engines, tornadoes and tidal waves are flimsy efforts compared to His power.

The eternity of God is revealed in the phrase, "in the beginning." The deity of God is revealed in the word "God," and His activity is revealed in the last phrase of the first verse, "God created the heavens and the earth."

All the way through the first chapter of Genesis, the phrases "God blessed, God made, God said," stand out. The impression given is that God, as Creator, is busily active in big ways, like creating the heavens.

The Hubbell telescope has opened our eyes to a Universe much more vast than had ever been imagined. All of it exists and is maintained by the powerful Word of God. What big thing are you confronting? A big decision? Or commitment? Or responsibility? Or problem?

The very first verse of the Bible tells us that God is active in big things! But God also "created the heavens and the earth." As Creator, He is active from the telescope to the microscope! He is active in small ways. He created chemical elements, molecules, genes, atoms-things that cannot even be seen by the naked eye.

What do you think is so small, it's too small for God to notice? A small tear? A small hurt feeling? A small deed? A small insult? A small worry that is robbing you of your joy? Nothing is too small for the Creator's attention and activity!

Although God was actively involved throughout the Creation process, in the beginning the "earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep."(Genesis 1:2) If you and I had been present at that time to view the earth, we would have been able to see no outward, visible evidence of God's activity at all. In fact, we might have had the impression that because we could not see any evidence of His activity, He was not doing anything. Yet at that very time, "the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."(1:2) He was personally, invisibly, actively preparing planet Earth to receive His Word and be transformed into a place of beauty and purpose-a place that would reflect His image and bring Him pleasure.

Whom are you praying for whose life is "formless"-with no apparent purpose or meaning?

Whom do you know whose life is "empty"-void of satisfaction and fulfillment?

Is there someone whom you love who lives in the "darkness" of depression or ignorance or confusion?

Are you concerned for a friend whose life is like "the surface of the deep"-undulating, unstable, always changing and moody?

Even though you have prayed without ceasing, have you seen no evidence of God's activity in that person's life? Have you therefore concluded that God is not active? Or that He has not heard your prayers? Or that, if He has heard you, He just doesn't care? Or if He cares, He simply is unable to do anything about it?

Would you choose to place your faith in the God of Creation? He cannot be less than Himself. And He is active whether you and I can see evidence of His activity or not. In answer to your prayer of faith, the invisible, silent Spirit of God will move and hover over the heart and mind and will of your loved one, preparing him or her to receive His Word and thus be transformed.

God is active, but He does not always act according to our timetable. He is very patient. But don't mistake His patience for inactivity and understand that very often His activity is unseen. Sometimes God tests and strengthens our faith by withholding evidence of His activity from us so that our faith is in Him alone.

Following the resurrection but before His ascension, Jesus spent forty days and nights coming and going with His disciples. Whether on the road to Emmaus or in the upper room in Jerusalem or on the shore of Galilee, Jesus would suddenly appear, then just as suddenly disappear. Whether His disciples could see Him or not, He seemed to be teaching them to be confident He was actively present and involved in their lives.

His involvement in the Universe as well as in our own lives is always at His own initiative. In the billions of years stretching back into the mystery of eternity, God decided to create the Universe as a home for planet Earth which would be a home for man. Why? What prompted God to act? "Who has understood the Spirit of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?" The answer that reverberates through the millenniums is: no one! no one! no one! no one! God stands in the august solitude of Himself. When He acts, it is because He Himself has taken the initiative and made the decision to do so.

God took the initiative to create the Universe: "and God said," to create the earth: "the Lord God made the earth", to create man: "Let us make man in our image", to create the home: "the Lord God had planted a garden", to create woman: "I will make a helper" And God took the initiative to send His own Son to Earth to be our Savior: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son" He took the initiative to draw us to His Son that we might be saved. He took the initiative to send His Holy Spirit to live within us when we receive His Son by faith as our Savior and Lord. He took the initiative when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead and placed the entire Universe under His authority.

Your life and mine, both physical and spiritual, depend upon God's initiative. Would you praise God for the glory of His initial activity?

How unbelievably awesome is the One Who created everything! Our heads should bow, our knees should bend, our wills should yield, our hands should serve, our minds should worship, our hearts should love the One Whose glory is revealed in the beginning through His eternity, activity, deity and identity. Although we have yet to see the face of our Father, this AnGeL is thrilled to behold Him by faith in His Word!

In His Joy,

Anne Graham Lotz