Who has seen the face of God? According to Scripture, no one. Sitting in my breakfast nook one Sunday morning and looking out on the garden and the forest beyond, I wondered why.

Later that day on a TV program, author Philip Yancey said, “God gave us a face—it was the face of Christ.” That’s right. God sent His Son to earth as a man with a face we could comprehend. Jesus said in John 14:9: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” And Colossians 1:15 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

God is a Spirit. He is invisible. His awesome holiness is another reason we humans cannot see His face. If we could, it would prostrate us as it did Isaiah when he “saw” God in a smoke-filled vision. He cried, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5).

Certainly the face of our Creator in its multifaceted glory would be incomprehensible to us. Yet God does allow us to see facets of His “face”—His qualities—in many other ways. In the smiles and support of friends and family, we see His love and kindness. 1 John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”

We see His power in the “coincidences” of life that bring amazing solutions to our seemingly impossible problems. Moses witnessed the power of God over and over. Hebrews 11:27 says, “By faith he [Moses] left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.”

In nature we marvel at God’s glorious revelations of His attributes. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Looking out my window, I saw so many of those qualities. The sun breaking the horizon gives us hope each new day. Tall majestic trees shelter us and show us that God encircles our lives, protecting us. Tiny, perfect, multi-hued flowers say that our God is tender and compassionate, rejoicing in beauty and creativity. Rain shows us that He desires to refresh us and also wash us clean of our sins. Gentle winds remind us that even though we cannot see Him, God is moving tenderly in our midst by His Spirit.

Rocks remind us of His strength, His permanency. God is the Rock of our salvation that cannot be moved. The firm ground reminds us of sowing and reaping and that God is an encourager and wants to see us grow spiritually each day.

No wonder spending time in a garden or walking on forest trails or running along the beach invigorates us. With the sun in our face, breezes blowing through our hair, and His creation a feast for our eyes, we receive into our souls veiled glimpses of the Almighty One.

Copyright © by Carol Brinneman Share