It’s difficult to believe in someone you can’t see. It sounds unreasonable to believe in someone we can’t see, touch or hear. Why would we talk to someone who does not appear to be sitting next to us, or anywhere near us? They say “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). We are to have faith, so why is it so hard?

Could it be we are looking for God in the wrong place?

The mysteries of Heaven, and all Your works displayed.
Every star, every ocean, the universe proclaims.
For every sun that rises, your faithfulness to me.
Like the changing of the season, like the river to the sea.

As humans, we want God to be contained in a single entity like our own bodies. We want to be able to see what he looks like, what color his eyes are, the texture of his hair. But our understanding of God is confined to our understanding of the objects on earth. We must remember, God is much bigger than this earth and he has left us his image in a much bigger way: his creation.

Paul says “[H]is invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Rom. 1:20). So what if instead of wishing we could see God in a particular form, we started to see him in our immediate surroundings? The way we view the earth would radically change.

Consider your commute to work with God all around you. He is in the trees you pass by, in the sky you can see through your sunroof, in the sun that you shield your eyes from. The person in the car next to you is His creation as well as the rain or the snow that’s making the roads busy. And when you get to work, you step out of the car into the cold, or warm, air that God created to fill your lungs.

You see, when we put God into the details of our lives, life fills with beauty.

It does take a direction shift. We will not see God in nature and our surroundings if our focus is on ourselves and our circumstances. It requires a looking out and a looking up, but once we do, we don’t want to look back.

Your beauty fills the sky. Your glory reigns in brilliant light.
Great God of countless wonders, I will lift my eyes.

Based on the song Countless Wonders by Chris Tomlin. Original post available on YouVersion based on the album Burning Lights.