Why are some homeless and drunkards happier than many other people? Augustine asked the same question in Milan 1,600 years ago.

The Singing Beggars by Russian painter Ivan Yermenyov c. 1775

The beggar had reached the goal of peaceful happiness while Augustine's ambition was causing him pain and trouble

A beggar in 1880s Tehran, photographed by Antoin Sevruguin

My misery was complete and I remember how, one day, you (God) made me realize how utterly wretched I was. I was preparing a speech in praise of the Emperor, intending that it should include a great many lies which would certainly be applauded by an audience who knew well enough how far from the truth they were. I was greatly preoccupied by this task and my mind was feverishly busy with its harassing problems. As I walked along one of the streets in Milan I noticed a poor beggar who must, I suppose, have had his fill of food and drink, since he was laughing and joking. Sadly I turned to my companions and spoke to them of all the pain and trouble which is caused by our own folly. My ambitions had placed a load of misery on my shoulders and the further I carried it the heavier it became, but the only purpose of all the efforts we made was to reach the goal of peaceful happiness. This beggar had already reached it ahead of us, and perhaps we should never reach it at all. For by all my laborious contriving and intricate manoeuvres I was hoping to win the joy of worldly happiness, the very thing which this man had already secured at the cost of the few pence which he had begged.

The beggar was cheerful and had no worries while Augustine was unhappy and full of apprehension

Homeless man in Anchorage, Alaska.

Of course, his was not true happiness. But the state of felicity which I aimed to reach was still more false. He, at any rate, was cheerful, while I was unhappy: he had no worries, but I was full of apprehension. And if anyone had asked me whether I would rather be happy or afraid, I should have replied that I preferred to be happy. But if I had then been asked to choose between the life which that beggar led and my own, I should have chosen my own life, full of fears and worries though it was. This would have been an illogical choice and how could I have pretended that it was the right one? For I ought not to have preferred myself to the beggar simply because I was the more learned, since my learning was no source of happiness to me. I only made use of it to try to please others, and I only tried to please them, not to teach them. This was why you broke my bones with the rod of your discipline.

Looking for happiness in honour instead of honour in God is not true honour

Sleeping homeless person in the corner of Cologne Cathedral, Germany, 2010

My soul, then, must beware of those who say that what matters is the reason why a man is happy. They will say that it was drunkenness that made the beggar happy, while my soul looked for happiness in honour. But what sort of honour did it hope to find? Not the kind which is to be found in you. O Lord. It was not true honour, any more than the beggar's joy was true joy, but it turned my head even more. That very night the beggar would sleep off his drunkenness, but mine had been with me night after night as I slept and was still with me in the morning when I woke, and would still be with me night and day after that.

The beggar was happier than Augustine.  The beggar was cheerful while Augustine was anxious.  The beggar earned his wine by wishing people good day while Augustine fed his pride by telling lies

A man holding a sign using self-deprecating humor for begging

Yet I know that it does matter why a man is happy. There is a world of difference between the joy of hope that comes from faith and the shallow happiness that I was looking for. There was a difference too between the beggar and myself. He was certainly the happier man, not only because he was flushed with cheerfulness while I was eaten away with anxiety, but also because he had earned his wine by wishing good day to passers-by while I was trying to feed my pride by telling lies.

William Hogarth's Gin Lane, 1751

On this occasion I told my friends much of what I felt about these things. Often, by observing them, I was made aware of my own state, and I was not pleased with what I saw. This made me sad and my misery was redoubled; and if, by chance, fortune smiled upon me, I was too disheartened to seize it, for it would take to flight just as my hand was ready to close upon it.

Source: Saint Augustine. Confessions. Translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin. London: Penguin Group, 1961, Book VI, pages 118-120.

Why was Elizabeth Fry so concerned about the conditions of prisoners?

Elizabeth Fry, by Charles Robert Leslie. 

" … to form in them, as much as possible, those habits of sobriety, order, and industry, which may render them docile and peaceable while in prison, and respectable when they leave it."

To Visit the Imprisoned by Flemish artist Cornelis de Wael c. 1640

In the early 1800s, English prisons were pits of indecency and brutality. The idea was to punish, not reform prisoners. Most people thought this was the way things should be or believed nothing could be done to change the entrenched system. Elizabeth Fry disagreed on both accounts and pushed for a number of prison reforms we still practice today.

Horrifying conditions

Gustave Doré's image of the exercise yard at Newgate Prison (1872).

The daughter of an English banker, the 20-year-old Elizabeth married Joseph Fry, a wealthy tea dealer. Children came quickly, eventually numbering 11. When she had rededicated her life to Christ at age 18, she wanted to help the downtrodden. So as a young bride and mother, she gave medicine and clothes to the homeless and helped establish the Sisters of Devonshire Square, a nursing school. In 1813, at age 33, her attention turned to the female prisoners in London's Newgate prison. She began to visit the prison almost daily, and what she found there horrified her.

An execution taking place at Newgate prison

At Newgate, women awaiting trial for stealing apples were crammed into the same cell as women who had been convicted of murder or forgery (both capital crimes). Women ate, defecated, and slept in the same confined area. If an inmate had children, they accompanied her to prison and lived in the same inhumane conditions. For those without help from family, friends, or charities, the options were to beg and to steal food, or to starve to death. Many women begged for alcohol as well, languishing naked and drunk. The sight of children clinging to their mothers as they were dragged to the gallows was a scene replayed time and again.

Better life for inmates 

Fry reading to inmates in Newgate prison

Prison officials warned Fry of the risks she was taking in visiting prisons (exposure to violence and disease), but she waved the warnings aside. Besides comforting women, she taught them basic hygiene and to sew and quilt (so they might earn a living when they were released). She read the Bible to inmates and gave Bibles away. She intervened for women on death row, and if her pleas were unsuccessful, she accompanied women to the scaffold and comforted them in their last moments. 

A scene in Newgate Prison, London

To expand her efforts, in 1816 she founded the Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners of Newgate "to provide for the clothing, instruction, and employment of the women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and to form in them, as much as possible, those habits of sobriety, order, and industry, which may render them docile and peaceable while in prison, and respectable when they leave it." Specific reforms she campaigned for included: separation of men and women prisoners, paid work for inmates, women guards for women prisoners, and the housing of criminals based on their crimes.

Beyond Newgate 

Fry's statue in the Old Bailey

To nineteenth-century observers, Fry's efforts produced a miracle: many of the reportedly wild and incorrigible inmates became, under her care, orderly, disciplined, and devout. Mayors and sheriffs from surrounding regions visited Newgate and began initiating reforms in their own prisons. In 1818 Fry gave testimony before the House of Commons on the state of English prisons, which contributed to the Prison Reform Act of 1823. Fry's concern extended to women in half-way houses, where she introduced education, discipline, and Bible instruction. She helped establish a night shelter in London (1820) and formed societies to minister to vagrant families. She also promoted her prison reform ideas in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. Until her death in 1845 at age 65, she visited every convict ship that carried female prisoners to the British colonies. Fry's ideas inspired subsequent generations to combine social work and gospel proclamation and reshaped how prisoners have been treated, ever since.

Source: Galli, Mark and Ted Olson, eds. 131 Christians Everyone Should Know. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2000, pages 286-287.  

Belief in a transcendent Supreme Being exists in Traditional Religions

The Core of Monotheism

"God the Father", a representation of the theistic version of God, by Ludovico Mazzolino (1480 – c. 1528)

A belief in a Supreme Being is central to traditional religions; lesser deities exist, but they serve the Supreme Being.  Though he may be called by a multitude of different names, the Supreme Being of the ancient world has always been at the center of religious belief.  Most view him as a father above all and removed from all (transcendent), but some consider him approachable (immanent).  He is the creator of all things, including lesser gods and spirits.

All civilizations have evidence of belief in a Supreme Being

The Origin and Growth of Religion (1931) by Wilhelm Schmidt (1868 – 1954).  Schmidt was an Austrian linguist, anthropologist, and ethnologist. 

Belief in the Supreme Being can be found culturally and historically in almost all civilizations throughout history.  German scholar Wilhelm Schmidt details this collective recognition in his Origin and Growth of Religion:

• The Supreme Being is generally acknowledged as creator, and called Father in every primitive culture where He is addressed.  He lives somewhere above the earth.

• He is a being, so his physical form cannot be accurately represented.  He is described as invisible, like the wind, or like fire.

• He is eternal: He existed before any other being, and He will not die.

• He is all powerful and all knowing.

• He is Good, and all good comes from Him, including moral law.  He is unalterably righteous.

• He despises evil, and it must be kept far from Him.

• He is the Just Judge.  Human beings are separated from Him by past offenses, and they abandoned Him for lesser, more accessible gods; yet primitive religion retain His memory as the Sky-God.

The Sky God known throughout the world

Jupiter, the sky father of Greco-Roman religion and mythology, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres 

This "Sky-God," known today in Africa as Pa Karumasba or the Supreme Creator, designed this world for the pleasure of human beings, and Africans believe they owe him reverence and thanks for his creation.  Sacrifices are made to him in order to ensure his continued blessing on both the land and the people.  Life should be centered on pleasing the Creator by following the moral laws he introduced from the beginning.  "There are many things held to be morally wrong and evil, such as: robbery, murder, rape, telling lies, stealing, being cruel, saying bad words, showing disrespect, practicing sorcery or Witchcraft, interfering with public rights, backbiting, being lazy or greedy or selfish, making promises, and son on."  In the African worldview, religion is life and life is religion.

Source: Martin, Walter, Jill Martin Rische, and Kurt Van Gorden. The Kingdom of the Occult. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2008, pages 474-475.

What are the Crucial Facts about the One and Only Jesus Christ?

Christ of Saint John of the Cross is a painting by Salvador Dalí made in 1951

Many New Agers are ignorant of the Savior's credentials.  Their idea of "the Christ is dim and dull, based on childhood images, sentimental distortions, occult clichés and misinterpretations of Scripture.  Yet Christians have great opportunity to boast in their Lord.  Among other things, Christians can highlight these crucial facts about the one and only Christ:

1. He fulfilled a score of Old Testament prophecies concerning his life, death and resurrection.

The Presentation at the Temple is painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna dating to c. 1455.

These predictions fit only one person, Jesus Christ -- as the early church saw so clearly.  No other religious leader can rightly claim to fulfill them.  Jesus was and is "the Mighty God" of Isaiah 9:6, the personal revelation of God.  In view of some New Agers' interest in vague, ancient, pagan prophecies -- whether Mayan, Aztec, Hopi or Hindu -- they should be willing to consider the reality of specific, fulfilled biblical prophecy concerning Jesus Christ.

Consider the confidence in Christ shown by Pascal, who viewed fulfilled prophecy as a strong reason to believe:

Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher.

I hold out my arms to my Redeemer, who, having been foretold for four thousand years, has come to suffer and die for me on earth, at the time and under all the circumstances foretold.  By His grace, I await death in peace, in the hope of being eternally united to Him.  Yet I live with joy, whether in the prosperity which it pleases Him to bestow upon me, or in the adversity which He sends for my good, and which He has taught me to bear by His example.

2. Jesus predicted his own death and resurrection and rose from the dead.

Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus) is a 1954 oil-on-canvas painting by Salvador Dalí which depicts the Crucifixion of Jesus, though it deviates from traditional portrayals of the Crucifixion by depicting Christ on the polyhedron net of a hypercube and adding elements of Surrealism.

Few others have predicted their resurrection from the dead, let alone actually done it!  Christ actually rose again on the third day, thus vindicating his claims (Romans 1:4).  The evangelistic vigor of the early church is inexplicable apart from Christ's actual physical resurrection.  Without this his disciples would have remained (literally) dispirited.  They would have known he predicted his resurrection to no avail.  They would have no gospel to preach.  But preach they did -- because of the resurrection.

Although the New Age claims we are gods, I know of no New Ager who has died for the karma of the world or has risen from the dead.  And none seem forthcoming.  (It is said that Swami Yogananda, founder of the Seal-Realization Fellowship, decayed quite slowly after his death, but whatever significance that has pales in comparison with the risen Christ.)

3. Jesus cannot be forced into the New Age mold of just another "enlightened master" if we accept what the Bible says about him.

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio

Either he was who he said he was -- uniquely God incarnate -- or he wasn't.  He never made general claims about the divinity of all people, but singled himself out as the Incarnation of God.  To some of his detractors he declared, "I tell you the truth ... before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58).  At this they tried to stone him because he called himself what God had called himself in the revelation to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:14).  Jesus also said to a paralytic he was about to heal, "Son, your sins are forgiven," thus disturbing some of the religious leaders there who thought, "Why does this fellow talk like that?  He's blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?"  Jesus didn't shrink back, but knowing their thoughts he revealed that "The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" (Mark 2:10), after which he demonstrated his divine power by healing a crippled boy (verses 5-12).  Jesus also received the worship of Thomas who -- after his doubts about Jesus' resurrection melted in the presence of the risen Christ -- cried out, "My Lord and My God" (John 20:28).  Jesus did not correct him but rather blessed him (v. 29).

If Jesus thought he was uniquely God incarnate but he wasn't, he was far less than "an enlightened master" -- he didn't even know who he was!  If he knew he was not uniquely God incarnate, but said he was, he was a flaming fraud, and in no sense was he an "enlightened master."  Rose yet, h e would have been a deceiver, leading a multitude astray.  IF he though he was uniquely God incarnate and was -- as the record relates -- let us throw off this nonsense of placing him in the pantheistic pantheon.  Let us worship and serve him instead.

Christians may want to challenge New Agers imply to read thought the Gospels themselves, rather than relying on secondhand interpretations given by New Age writers and teachers.  Confronted with the uncensored Word of God, they might "believer that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing ... have life in his name" (John 20:31).

Source: Groothuis, Doug. Confronting the New Age. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1988, pages 119-121.

The Fear of the Lord is The Beginning of Emotional Intelligence.

Fear of God is the first official studio album by industrial band Deitiphobia, who had been known as Donderfliegen up until that time. It was originally released in late 1991 by Blonde Vinyl. 

What's missing from the discussion about Emotional Intelligence?  God is. 

Solomon writing Proverbs (Gustave Doré).  Proverbs 9:10: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."

We suggest that what is missing in the wisdom model presented is the acknowledgement of God or a divine Other to whom an individual can be personally related.  A major corrective to the model is found in Proverbs 9:10: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."  To fear, or to have awe or respect, of God is presented as the foundation upon which all other wisdom is based.

Jesus Christ is God's Wisdom

Christ crucified , Diego Velázquez

The subject of wisdom in the Bible is primarily dealt with in the Old Testament wisdom books (Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes)  and in certain parts of the New Testament, most notably writing that centers on "Jesus Christ who is God's wisdom and who reveals it to us" (Goldsworthy, 1987, p. 16).  As the fulfiller of the Olt Testament, only Jesus Christ can provide an  understanding of the full meaning of the wisdom books of the Old Testament.

Biblical Wisdom is not just knowledge of what is good and right but also putting that knowledge into practice

Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders.  This parable compares building one's life on the teachings and example of Jesus to a flood-resistant building founded on solid rock.

The word wisdom (or to be wise) is used over four hundred times in the Bible.  While many of these refer to knowledge of what is good and right, mnany also refer to how a person is to practically live out that knowledge.  In Scripture, making the right decision and living the right way is linked with wisdom.  Note, for example, Matthew's parable of the wise and foolish builders (Gospel of Matthew 7:24-29).  While a wise man builds his house upon a rock, the foolish man builds his house upon the sand.  The wise person "hears these words of mine and acts on them ... [But] everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand" (verse 24 nad 26).  Although Matthew begins by associating wisdom as knowledge, he quickly adds that no on eis wise unless they put that knowledge into practice.  Thus Baltes and Freund's assertion that wisdom includes the two components of knowledge and practical abilities comports very well with a biblical perspective on wisdom.

God has turned "worldly wisdom" into foolishness.  Wordly wisdom is actually foolishness because it cannot put man in touch with reality by bringing him to God.

Descent from the Cross, depicted by Rubens

Outside of the Gospels, 1 Corinthians 1-2 most directly addresses the issue of wisdom.  The heeart of the Corinthian passages can be summed up in 1 Corinthians 1:20: "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"  We could wrongly conclude that Paul is discounting the value of any "worldly wisdom."  In truth, all of us have absorbed and depend on much "worldly wisdom" in our daily living.  The wisdom described in Balte's model is valuable, those who have more of it are better off than those who have little.  Goldsworthy (1987, p. 31) helps us understand the difference between such worldly wisdom and Godly wisdom by summarizing Paul's assertions on the two kinds of wisdom mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1-2.

First, Paul says that the gospel would be emptied of its power if he were to preach it with eloquent worldly wisdom (1:17).  This is because the wisdom of the world judges this gospel, the message of the cross, to be foolishness (1:18).  Such wisdom is therefore doomed to perish (1:19).  Wordly wisdom is actually foolishness because it cannot put man in touch with reality by bringing him to God (1:20-21a).  God's way of salvation through the preaching of Christ curcified is an offense to the Jews and stupidity to the Greeks, yet it is both the power and wisdom of God (1:18-24).  So, that which the unbelieving world calls foolishness is in fact wiser than the wisdom of the world (1:25).  Paul avoids the wisdom which the world sees as superior and persuasive, and centers his whole message of Christ crucified (2:1-4).  He does this in order that faith might rest, not in man's wisdom, but in God's power (2:5).  Paul's wisdom is wisdom from God which is taught by the Spirit of God (2:6-13).  He who does not have the Spirit of God will never see this true wisdom for what it is (2:14-16).

While wordly wisdom has meaning in a limited sense, God's wisdom has meaning in an ultimate sense

Truth and Wisdom assist History in writing by Jacob de Wit, 1754

To Paul worldly wisdom has meaning in a limited sense, but if falls short of God's wisdom, which has meaning in an ultimate sense.  Paul is not saying there is no value to wrodly wisdom, only that it fails to answer the ultimate questions of what the meaning and purpose is to life.  The cultimation of biblical wisdom is seen in the person and life of Jesus Crhsit, who was wholly God and wholly human.  Jesus Christ modeled wisdom as knowlege and how to put it into practice in daily living and interaction with others.  Even though Baltes's model (Paul B. Baltes (1939 – 2006) was a German psychologist) of wisdom is limited, it is valid to the extent that it is modeled by the humanity of Jesus.  Thus we find that the "wordly" model of wisdom comports very well with a biblical view of wisdom.

Aging makes you wiser

Old Woman Dozing by Nicolaes Maes (1656). 

While the development of wisdom comes with aging, it is a process that goes on throughout the entire life span.  Hopefully, the end of midlife is accompanied by the recognition of others that one is becoming wise.  Where there have been barriers to the development of wisdom, the mere passage to the elderly years is no guarantee that a person will become wise.  Where the beginning of wisdom has emerged, the elderly years can be a time when the more routine and material concerns of life can be put aside in favor of a life in which the further development of wisdom can flourish. 

Source: Balswick, Jack O., Pamela Ebstyne King, and Kevin S. Reimer, The Reciprocating Self: Human Development in Theological Perspective, locations 2715 to 2745.

Christian Psychologists believe that our souls are relational and permeable and that God has designed us to absorb the presence of others

Our way of relating to others is affected by our earliest experiences as babies

Sweet Dreams, by Belgian artist Firmin Baes

Learning to relate starts at least as early as the day we are born (and probably in the womb).  Our way of entering into and maintaining all our relationships (not just marriage) is one of the earliest psychological structures formed in us.  We come into the world neurologically wired to make connections, to attach to others.  When our early connections are healthy, we will find it easier to connect well as adults.  To the extent our emotional attachment with our primary caregivers is lacking while we are children, we will find our relational capacity limited as adults.

Our Learned Relational Attachment System affects our future relationships

"Weak-strong-ties" by derivative work: PalfretWeak-strong-ties.jpg:g

It is virtually impossible to overstate the significance of our learned relational attachment system in the early years and its profound influence on our relational experience as adults.  The quality and character of the programming we received early in life establishes a pattern of attachment that controls our relationships later in life.

God designed us to absorb the presence of others

Famille d’un Chef Camacan se préparant pour une Fête ("Family of a Camacan chief preparing for a celebration") by Jean-Baptiste Debret shows a woman breastfeeding a child in the background.

We are able to attach to others because our souls are relational and permeable.  God designed us to absorb the presence of others, especially when we are young.  Two primitive instincts are in service of the infant's attachment design.  First is the sucking instinct.  It fosters a bond with the mother whereby the child absorbs both the physical and emotional needs of the young soul.  Second is the instinctual search for the gaze of another's eyes.  Looking for and locking on to the eyes of another also fosters a bond.  These instincts build the neural network that compels the infant's connection with others.

Our attachment network controls how we connect with others

A mother breast feeding—a process that facilitates mother–infant bonding.

The attachment system is so significant and comprehensive that it literally organizes and influences the development of other critical neurological systems in the body.  Our feelings, will and memory come under its domain in the first months of life.  When our cognition comes online later, it will also be under the influence of our attachment system.  In other words, the attachment network compels us to connect with others, and it eventually controls how we connect with others.

Source:  Plass, Richard and James Cofield. The Relational Soul: Moving from False Self to Deep Connection. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014, pages 24-25.

Why is God so hidden? Because of the hiddenness of God.

Alberich puts on the Tarnhelm and vanishes; illustration by Arthur Rackham to Richard Wagner's Das Rheingold

Any religion that did not proclaim God's hidden presence would contradict the whole of practical human experience.  God is beyond our comprehension.

The Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU) is the goddess of a parody religion used to satirize theistic beliefs, taking the form of a unicorn that is paradoxically both invisible and pink

Yet because of his infinity and invisibility, the glory of God can be fully appreciated only by himself (within the Trinity); the Christian tradition has always taught that God is fundamentally beyond the full comprehension of human beings (Psalm 139:6; 145:3; Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-34; Bavinck, 1951; Frame, 1987).  As a result, he must reveal himself to humans, if they are to understand anything about him.  Yet it would also seem obvious that God could reveal himself more fully than he has; for example, his glory is not directly accessible to our sense the way a material object is.  (Atheists have used this as an argument against his existence, e.g., Schellenberg, 1993.)  Summarizing a thought of Pascal, Wetsel (2003) wrote, "Any religion that did not proclaim God's hidden presence would contradict the whole of practical human experience" (p. 164).

God's hiddenness compels you to make a free choice. God does not need to reveal Himself

A Medieval French manuscript illustration depicting the three estates: clergy (oratores), nobles (bellatores), and commoners (laboratores).

There is no easy explanation here.  Some have suggested that God's hiddenness makes faith more of a free choice (e.g., Murray, 2002).  And maybe it is fitting that he is hidden.  Perhaps his very majesty makes it appropriate that he not disclose himself in his creation too openly or too frequently, otherwise his uniqueness and transcendence would be compromised, something analogous to why we do not expect a visit from a king to the home of every commoner.  Perhaps God's glory is being displayed in his apparent reticence to disclose himself.  Though he is infinitely great, he is also infinitely humble (Varillon, 1983).  He does not brag or boast.  Though the Center of the universe, he does not have a narcissistic need to be the center of attention.  Moreover, God's beauty would seem to be specially displayed through the course of its temporal unveiling.  We like stories of a great treasure -- hidden for a long time -- that is suddenly discovered.  And think of the joy in hide-and-seek; in the novelist who has something important to say but spends six hundred pages saying it with deliberation and poetic prowess; or in the planning of a surprise party for someone.  The story of the gradual manifestation of the glory of God simply fosters the accumulation of greater joy in God and in all those who look for the increasing manifestation of his beauty.  But whatever the reasons, it is obvious that God is keeping back the vast majority of his glory from the creation.

God manifests Himself by leaving signs that are recognized by those who seek Him

The Children of Israel Crossing the Jordan, Exodus 13:21-22 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire by Benjamin West (1738-1820)

Nevertheless, the invisible, triune God has manifested himself in some ways, leaving signs of himself.  As Pascal wrote, "Wishing to appear openly to those who seek Him with all their heart, and to remain hidden from those who shun Him with all their heart, God has moderated the way He might be known by giving signs, which can be seen by those who seek Him and not by those do not.  There is enough light for those whose only desire is to see, and enough darkness for those of a contrary disposition" (quoted by Wetsel, 2003, pp. 166-67).

God reveals His glory in measure

Ezekiel's Vision by Raphael

So one can read the history of the human race as the story of the mostly hidden God's gradual manifestation to his image-bearers through signs of himself, embedded in the created order and also expressed in theophany, in Scripture, in the Son and in God's people.  God's self-revelation through such signs permits him to remain largely hidden while manifesting his glory in measure.  It appears that the infinite glory of the triune God is being parcelled out over time.

Source: Johnson, Eric L. Foundations for Soul Care: a Christian Psychology Proposal. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007, pages 263-265.