There are exceptions, but God does not reveal Himself to us unless we really want Him and seek Him. After Jacob had wrestled with the angel all through the night, the angel wanted to leave and said, "Let me go, for the day breaketh." But Jacob would not let Him go and said, "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me" (Genesis 32:24-30). The angel (most probably the Son of God in human form) could have left of His own volition, but wanted to see how much Jacob really wanted Him.
One time the disciples were out on Lake Galilee. The wind was strong and they were toiling in the waves. Jesus came by walking on the water "and would have passed by them" but they cried out to Him and He came into the ship and the wind ceased (Mark 6: 47-51).
When the Canaanite woman came to Jesus to ask Him to heal her daughter, He did not even answer her. The disciples wanted to send her away because she kept bothering them. but she would not give up. Eventually Jesus said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Still she would not give up and because of her persistence Jesus healed her daughter (Matthew 15:22-28).
Do you remember when the two disciples were walking to Emmaus? They were dejected and sad because they thought Jesus was going to deliver them from the Romans but was now dead. Along came this stranger, Jesus Himself but unknown to them, and revealed all the things in the Scriptures concerning Himself. Their hearts burned within them as He talked with them, but eventually they arrived at Emmaus and Jesus "made as though he would have gone further." But the disciples "constrained him" to stay with them and come in for supper (Luke 24:13-32). Because of their insistence that He come to their home, He made Himself known to them as they ate together.
Dear wives and mothers, do you want God to come and bless you and your children in your home? God does not stay around if we don't have time for Him. He comes to those who will not let Him go. He comes to those who really want Him to reveal Himself to them. That's why it is important to make time to meet with God as a family each day. God tells us in Exodus 20:24 that when we make an altar to Him That He will come to us and bless us. This does not mean we make a physical altar, but a time and a place where we commit together as a family to meet with Him--allowing nothing else to interfere with this time.
When we allow everything else to get in the road and eclipse this time, He knows that we are not really seeking after Him. He sees by our actions that all the other things in our day are more important than Him.
Are you going to let Him pass by, or are you going to say, "God we want you to come to our home. We are going to make a time each day when we gather as a family to meet with you and where we cry out to you to meet with us"?
Alexander Maclaren writes, "If we do not desire Him to stay, He will go, unless we keep Him."
Blessings from Nancy Campbell