I often tell people who don't know God to pray a simple prayer, "God, please reveal Yourself to me." It's the prayer I prayed years ago before Jesus came onto the patio where I was standing behind me, His presence leaving zero doubt about who He is.
So I've told people who were especially hesitant as I was to do the same.
I was surprised when someone came back to me telling me they hadn't heard anything. The the God I know answers prayers, often in ways I don't see coming, but always answers, so I asked Him why.
There's a passage where Yeshua's disciples are asking Him why He was speaking to the crowd who came to listen in parables. He answered, "Because seeing they do not see, and hearing, they do not hear." And continues:
"For the hearts of this people have grown calloused.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’"
Matthew 13:15
I missed an important element of the prayer asking God to reveal Himself because I hadn't considered it.
The condition of the heart.
I looked up that word above for "calloused" in it's original Greek. Sometimes it's translated as "dull" or "hardened." It also means thickened. The condition of the heart before God matters. Quite a lot.
It reminds me of how Pharaoh's heart was hardened to the point he couldn't/didn't listen to God.
I believe it's why so many people meet Jesus in pits: because the pit is not a place where arrogance or belief in one's strength exists. It's a place of complete vulnerability. When all of the ego and illusions of the things that make us feel high and mighty are gone, it's then that our hearts are humbled and we know we have a need for the God of heaven and earth on His terms rather than our own.
Castles built of faith in the wrong things have to often come down before we make room for the voice of God in our hearts.
It's kind of like how many people who are tough when are young, become sensitive when they are old. Their faith in their strength of their youth is gone and suddenly it's as if they're a new person.
It's why I don't envy anyone who seems to have it all. There are people who have so much of the world, they don't feel any need to inquire of the Maker of it.
I know that I have asked many things of God in the wrong way but with a right heart and He's answered me and taught me at the same time. But even if you have all the right, or even fancy words with a heart that is high, hardened, or in some other state...hearing from Him is difficult.
“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
If it's your first time praying or asking God to show you who He is, adjust the posture of your heart. Let go of what you think you know, who you are, what you think you deserve, or your accolades. None of that matters to Him. Just asking requires faith, so you're on your way. Ask Him in humility and being truly open in your heart. Like a child.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”
Matthew 5:8
The God of heaven loves an open, soft heart toward Him. Some hearts aren't hardened because they're high up, their hearts are closed and hardened due to things one has survived or seen. He knows this. But He is trustworthy.
"When you go through deep waters, I will be with you." Isaiah 43:2a
Check your heart. What's it's condition? Once you know, you can ask him for help because He wants you to have a heart that allows you to receive Him.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
Ezekiel 36:26
Keep seeking Him. Don't give up.
Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you," and He doesn't lie.
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