Objectifying God

Moving from spectator of God to participant in him.

Recently, in my own life, I have discovered a great joy-killer—one that comes not as evil’s directed assassin but as a distorted perception of my own production.

In his confessions, St. Augustine of Hippo makes a glorious and awful statement before God:

“Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee” (Augustine 1).

It is a glorious statement, to the man who has wandered through life exhaustively, to know that there is a destination in which his desires truly can find rest. Yet, it is an awful one for the man who finds his rest, but later wakes up to find it out of reach.

I sympathize greatly with this sentiment. I have indeed experienced the restlessness of my wanderings in the World and its fluctuating pleasures. By it, I also know my need to experience the stability of a heart made happy in an unwavering God. However, despite my knowledge of this truth, I have gone through seasons where a gladness in God has seemed out of reach. I’ve sat daily, reading and praying from scripture, seeking to have my heart made happy by beholding God’s beauty. Yet, in those efforts, I sometimes found myself in one of two scenarios:

1. Feeling delight in what I perceived one day, but not finding any the next.

2. Experiencing gladness while engaged in a spiritual discipline, but finding none after leaving that time of devotion.

These moments left me questioning myself, asking, “Why don’t I feel anything?” “Why does my joyful perception of God fade and fizzle?” “Why can’t I enjoy God more?” The very words that once awakened my heart to delight in God had become discouraging reminders that I was simply incapable of truly experiencing it.

But then, I realized something that totally changed my experience of joy in God. The problem I once thought lay within my own lack of spiritual taste buds turned out to be a faulty perception of my relation with the source himself — what I have come to call “objectifying God.”

Our Source of Delight

Everything that we enjoy begins with a perception of its worth. Thus, if we perceive God to be of infinite worth, we will enjoy him above all else. God made us to know him and experience the delight that proceeds from our beholding of him. David writes,

“As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15, ESV).

So the goal then for the pursuit of the Christian’s happiness is orientation towards God. We must see him to savor him.

All of us have had experiences of delight at the sight of something magnificent. Such pleasant feelings have come to us through our perception of sunsets on the horizon, a beautifully harmonious tune, or even at the sight of a skillfully developed painting. Certainly, if we can find such great pleasure in these apprehensions of God-given delights, how much more when beholding our God! Yet, it is precisely in this beholding where the danger of objectifying God begins. Let me provide an analogy…

Observing from a Distance

When one observes a painting that he finds to be truly beautiful, he will presumably feel all kinds of wondrous things. Mainly, he will experience some thrill in his perception of the painting and its beauty. However, when one entangles himself in this process, several things are true:

1. First, the viewer remains entirely themselves, and the painting remains entirely other. The viewer may cherish the painting and be quite fond of its beauty. However, he has no capability of interaction with it.

2. Second, the pleasure experienced is dependent on the viewer’s own reaction, and the painting does not share it with him.

3. And last, when the viewer leaves, the pleasure fades because its source is gone.

All of these things are true based on the reality that the painting is solely an object. It is not a person. It is not conscious, and it cannot be self-aware. It has no capability for social interaction or personal relationships. Therefore, the painting, as much joy as it may provide the viewer, remains an object to be gleaned from.

From Spectator to Participant

But this is not our relationship to God. We are not mere spectators, and God is not a bare object. When we sit before his word seeking only to gain an experience, we inevitably objectify the Creator for the sake of meeting our need to be happy. But joy is not something we take from God. Instead, it is granted in fellowship with him. In the gospel of John, Jesus reveals his will for our relational proximity to him.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

Jesus is not demanding observationalists. He is inviting participants who desire to dwell in a divine relationship with him. The branch does not observe the vine. It shares its life. But what is it that he promises in this communion with him?

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (John 15:9-10).

The Christian is not invited to simply observe and admire wonderful things about God (like his love). No—he is invited to have it for himself! How wonderful, not to merely intellectualize that God is love, but to be loved by the author of love himself! And what is the experiential result of this in the Christian?

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).

Christian happiness does not come by sitting in the art gallery of God’s descriptors (attributes). For when we look from our vantage point, we will only delight in what we find intriguing. Even a spiritually dead man can do this. Rather, true joy comes by knowing and delighting in the painter himself.

Conclusion

God’s call to us is not “behold me from a distance.” He is not a showroom comprised of arbitrary attributes to be stared at for a portion of each day. Rather, our Lord is a personal being, inviting us to a direct and abiding relationship with him. He calls us not simply to observe who he is, but to participate in his glory.

Thus, the Christian’s experience of delighting in God does not terminate in the joy itself. Happiness is not the end of man’s ultimate pursuit, but rather, the experience of abiding in the end himself. We are not merely satisfied by God, but ultimately, in him.

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Augustine. Confessions. Translated by Edward Bouverie Pusey, Pocket Books, 2006, p. 1.