If God is so Close, Why Don't I See Him?

If God is so close, why don't I see Him, or feel His presence?  This is an obvious question that can trip people up.  If God cares about me so much, why don't I feel like He's there for me?

The answer to this question is, I think, that God is so close to us that we don't see Him.  How can this be?  The truth is that many of us don't see what is closest.  We look past our parents, our siblings, and even our friends toward things that could be ours, if only we could reach them.  We look for the perfect moment at a party, or for wealth, or for recognition, or for popular friends, without being happy with what we already have.

The closer we get to the people around us, the closer we get to ourselves, and the closer we get to God. It's easy to strive after some goal and ignore the people around us.  When we do this, we are ignoring God as well.  How can we feel close to Someone we ignore?  How can we see Someone we don't even look for?  If we look out at a crowd, we'll rarely notice a person we're not looking for.  God is a member of that crowd, and we can only find Him if we know what He looks like.

What does God look like?  He looks like a lonely friend, like a forgotten parent, like a suffering brother.  God is in the people we forget and ignore.  He's in the people we try to impress, who really just want friendship.  He's in you and me, who suffer and need help.

So how can we see God?  By starting with the people who are already close to us, and working to make our relationships with them accepting and happy.  Share things you love with them, and perhaps they'll share things with you.  When we try to love the people around us, God is with us, and He overcomes barriers.  We need to let go of the bitterness, let go of the anger, and let God into the relationship.