It may very well be intentional on his part.

Not because he’s playing hard to get. Not because it’s some sort of cosmic game of hide-and-seek. From all that I understand, that’s not really how he works.

And not because you did something wrong. Not because you drove him away by your sin or your disobedience or your frustrating personality quirks. You didn’t disappoint him into leaving.

And not because he intends to be gone for forever. Again and again, whenever he gave people the disorienting news that he was going away—”You will look for me, but you will not find me”—he didn’t mean permanently. He will come again. Eventually you will find him again.

The good news is not shouted from the rooftops. The good news does not get announced with trumpets. The good news does not arrive in a parade. The good news does not explode like fireworks. The good news does not go viral on social media.

It could, of course. It has at times. Sometimes it still does.

But if you’re only listening for a loud, booming voice, you’re likely to not hear the good news being spoken to you. And if you’re only trying to share the good news with others by shouting, they’re not likely to hear you.

God, in general, seems perfectly content to communicate in whispers. The most incredible story of all time has a power all its own and needs little more than a breath behind it.

Are not expressed as well in English as they are in many other langauges. As a Spanish-speaker, I have two words to choose from (saber or conocer), as opposed to the simple one (to know) in English. In Spanish I can say a lot more with one little word, whereas in English I’d have to explain myself with additional words if I really wanted to be clearly understood.

Saber is about knowing facts, data, information. This is head knowledge.

Conocer is about knowing something or someone intimately, relationally, experientially. This is heart knowledge.

Will always be filled by people’s own conclusions. Because people want understanding. The human mind wants to fill in the blanks. The human heart wants to grasp the whole narrative.

In the visual arts, white space is intentional. Often what is not drawn or painted, what is left to be filled in by the viewer’s imagination, is part of the power.

In poetry, line breaks create visual space that leave a sense of openness, and imagery leaves meaning open to the interpretation and creation of the reader.

Because we humans can only see an object from one perspective at a time. We can only look in one direction at a time, and can only do so from our current location. This is a limitation of our physiology.

Thankfully, a great strength of our physiology is that we can also move. In order to get a clearer picture of an entire object, we can move around it to see it from different angles. We can move closer in order to get a more detailed look, or we can move farther away to get a more expansive view.

We have a correlative psychological and spiritual limitation: We can only see something from one perspective. We can only think about or understand something based upon our previous experiences or learning.

It’s human nature to skirt around certain rules when it serves our agenda. There’s always a loophole if we look hard enough. Or at least a crowd who will pat us on the back for the ends, irrespective of the means.

It’s also human nature to villainize those who threaten our agenda. Because our agendas are sacred to our egos. Self-protection (even under the guise of other-protection) is a powerful idol.

Of our culture, it seems. The possibility of going viral is just around the corner. Everyone has a voice, and the means to millions hearing what we have to say is literally in the palm of our hands. Securing a market share in people’s attention seems to be the driving force behind so much of what we say and do.

This isn’t new, really. Fame has always been the gasoline. The means have changed, but not the motive. The potential audience has broadened considerably, but not the craving in the human heart. And of course, what we all deep down know to be true is that there’s amount of fakeness involved in fame—both in the celebrities we idolize and in what it takes to get there.

Ok—maybe fame is too strong of a word. Substitute, whatever less-megalomaniacal synonym you like: Opinion. Recognition. Honor. Greatness. Respect. Glory.

Being credentialless is not an automatic disqualifier. True, there is huge value to formal education. Most of the time if someone has some fancy letters after their name you can trust that they have a certain level of expertise in a certain field.

But the absence of fancy letters doesn’t mean that someone has nothing significant to bring to the table. Especially in the kingdom of God.

Being the kind of leader around whom people can speak rather than whisper is hard to pull off. People are always talking amongst each other, it’s just a matter of how loudly, how honestly and openly.

I mean no judgment, either on leaders or those they lead. There’s just something in the power dynamic that is intimidating. Whether people are saying something favorable or contrary, there’s at least an unconscious concern for how the leader might respond.

We are all, if we’re honest, like Jesus’ brothers in John chapter 7. We want Jesus to make a big, public spectacle for everyone to see. For us to see. Because that seems to be the thing to do. Go big or go home.

“Jesus, if you can go big, why go small? If you can make a loud noise, why be quiet? If you can do something dramatic, why do something subtle? If you can move mountains in my life, why bother with my molehills?”

Jesus doesn’t come and go in ways we think best. Pay attention to how often he teaches about small, nearly imperceptible things like seeds and yeast. That’s how the kingdom comes. Not with a flashy haze-filled light show, but in the softness of soil being moved or dough being kneaded.