How do you find God when He is nowhere? Since ancient times, polytheistic cultures have carved gods into stone and made idols for all to worship and touch. However, the Bible’s monotheistic God of empty spaces breaks this pattern. He is not a physical being or deity, nor is He something one could grasp with their hands or see with their eyes. Rather, He simply is, was, and has always been. With no direction in sight, how could people back then, and still today, rationalize a formless God? The truth is hidden in the artwork: humans need a physical sacred space to be in communion with their God.

Throughout the Bible, we witness people wrestling with the concept of a God who exists beyond the earthly realm. I first notice this in the story of Adam and Eve, when Eve is tempted by the snake, a physical animal. Even though Adam and Eve know they are created by God, spoken to by Him, and in union with Him, they are still tempted by the serpent (Genesis 3). This indicates the deep struggle rooted in humans: people have trouble believing in a God who is formless. The Lord physically forms Adam and Eve with His hands—He fills the oceans and makes the skies. He creates all the plants and animals, and still, they put their trust in the things they see with their eyes, the serpent, rather than believing in their creator. Odd, isn’t it? Their desire to understand the knowledge of good and evil reveals a disconnected faith in an invisible God. Why is that so? Is it ingrained in humans to lack confidence in a higher being? Are humans inherently insecure?

We get a keen sense of insecurity a few chapters later when the Lord calls out to Abraham (the founding father of the Jewish people), telling him He will make a great nation out of Abraham and bless his family lineage. Abraham then travels into the wilderness, where God speaks to him again, so “He built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12). This scene stands out because it characterizes Abraham as a man who needs tangible confirmation of the God he follows. This connects back to the idea of insecurity, where Abraham reveals he needs a physical presence to grasp God’s holiness. Therefore, he uses the altar to compensate for his inability to see God. The altar transforms the mere perception of God into an awareness of His existence, which reinforces the theme of humans putting their faith in visuals rather than voices. We see this again when Abraham pitches his tent between Bethel and Ai and builds another altar to the Lord (Genesis 12). However, this time, Abraham calls out to the Lord at the altar, a change from when the altar served as a sign of where the Lord first called out to him. The switch reveals the altar’s two purposes: one, as an acknowledgment of the Lord’s presence, and the other, as a place to call on and receive His spirit. The shift between the two uses of the altars suggests a deepening of the relationship between God and Abraham, one in which the altar is not just an indication of God’s presence but also a place to pursue His spirit. Both instances emphasize a person’s longing for concrete spaces of worship and capture the beauty behind human devotion.

This devotion translates to modern times, as people continue to build mosques, churches, and temples to honor, worship, and receive divine spirit. As a Jesus follower, I attend church every Sunday. Whenever I miss a service, it feels as if there’s a gap in my day—a void that I need to fill. Going to church has become such a deeply ingrained habit that there’s an emptiness if I don’t attend each week. However, even after years of being a Christian, there is still something so magnificent when entering a sacred place to intentionally seek out the Lord. Not only do I feel refreshed afterward, but I leave knowing there is a higher purpose for me and a higher being who is looking after my life. In a way, Abraham must have felt the same feelings of renewal when he built the altars in the wilderness. The fact that he built them twice suggests that visual representations bring him closer to the Lord. That somehow, a formless, invisible God suddenly becomes evident in physical sacred spaces.

When the prophet Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, they leave behind centuries of behaviors and habits, creating a void in their routine. One of these practices is worshiping the Shrine of Menmaatraemheb, a 55 x 26.5 x 21 cm limestone carving of Maatmenraemheb and his wife Weretnofret (“Shrine of Menmaatraemheb”). The shrine gives us insight into the traditions the Israelites practiced and indicates praise was given to a physical statue. Does this altar serve the same purpose as the altar Abraham once built? Possibly.

The Shrine of Menmaatraemheb may have been used to acknowledge Menmaatraemheb and his wife, as well as to visualize their prayers. Its size and material help us further detect its purpose. Since it’s made of heavy rock, it suggests the shrine was not meant to be transported once it was placed. In fact, the Boston MFA notes the shrine was originally placed in front of the large granite stele of Neferhotep at Abydos (“Shrine of Menmaatraemheb”). This suggests a different purpose for shrines: commemoration and honor. The artist(s) of this shrine may have built it to please Menmaatraemheb and his wife. This reaffirms the connection between devotion and altars while tying in a new idea: altars symbolize respect for those worshiped. This suggests shrines and altars are used for the benefit of the worshiper and the worshiped. Such awareness helps us understand the nature of spiritual dedication—humans need concrete spaces to worship because they believe it proves their faithfulness to God. This explains why the Israelites have trouble with their faith while in the wilderness. As Moses leads them out of Egypt, the sudden loss of shrines and temples creates an emptiness in their physical connection to the Lord, revealing the fragility of their faith and suggesting that spirituality relies on tangible structures. As a result, they struggle to maintain trust in God in the wilderness, turning to false idols and complaining about their freedom, highlighting that faith deeply relies on material for conviction.

The mystery behind justifying a God of empty spaces lies in the altars Abraham created and the shrines the Egyptians modeled. Altars serve as a sign that “God is here, right now, in this place” and help direct people’s focus on the present rather than the world around them. The Shrine of Menmaatraemheb indicates a need for humans to comprehend the idea of God through visuals, connecting to the broader concept of “seeing is believing.” The Egyptian shrine showcases the use of altars as a way to communicate with the higher realm and as an indication of spiritual presence. It also illustrates a wider theme of respect and honor for the god or person being praised, further emphasizing that a strong faith is built on physical sanctuaries.

The key to understanding an invisible God lies in creating spaces and structures to see, hear, and feel His presence. The human tendency to believe in visual representations explains why Eve believed the snake when she saw it with her eyes and why Abraham built an altar twice for God in the wilderness. By analyzing the Shrine of Menmaatraemheb, we can

better understand the role of visuals in a strong faith: honoring and respecting the divine. This builds off the initial analysis we obtained from solely the Bible itself: altars are created to communicate to a higher power and serve as indicators of a holy presence.

Do humans struggle with insecurity? Absolutely. We put our confidence in what we can see, which is why upholding a belief system of a God of empty spaces requires the creation of altars, temples, and churches. This is fundamental to transforming a once non-existent God into one where people can receive His boundless, formless power. It explains why Christians like me go to church, and why the Egyptians built shrines: humans need concrete structures to receive, digest, and entrust their faith.







Works Cited