Why did God make us finite? If he wants us to believe in him, why does he hide himself from us (Isaiah 45:15)? Why does God, in the words of Orual, the main character in C. S. Lewis’ novel Till We Have Faces, hide himself and torment men with glimpses, ask us to believe what contradicts our senses, that he will neither go away and leave us alone nor show himself openly and tell us what he wants? [1]
John Hick suggests that only if we are finite can we truly have free will. ”the world must be to man. . .as if there were no God.” [2] Hick’s point is that if it was obvious to all that God existed, we would not we have the free choice of whether to believe in God or not.
But is this the real reason God made us finite; was it to test our belief system? The problem is that Satan is absolutely certain that God exists and that Jesus died for our sins.. “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19 ESV) Satan’s original rebellion was not a failure to believe, it was that he chose to rebel against God. Satan exercised his free will in deciding whether he would follow God or go his own way.
So why did God make us finite?
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[1] C. S. Lewis. Till We Have Faces. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1956, pp. 236, 243, 244, 249.
[2] John Hicks. Evil and the God of Love. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2010, p. 281.
