"... While they say to me continually, 'Where is your God?'" (Psalm 42:10, ESV).
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13, KJV).
"Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6, NASB).
"... Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" (Joel 2:17, NIV).
"... Why my enemies continually taunt me, saying, 'Where is this God of yours?'" (Ps. 42:3, NLT).
Have you ever felt abandoned by God like Job? He wondered that, too: "Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!" (Job 23:3, ESV). Job was desperate and was confident it wasn't his fault or that he deserved it, but God was MIA to his reckoning. Sometimes God withdraws from us to see what is in our heart! Our faith is more precious than gold and must be tested, to see if we are going by feeling or faith; faith is what pleases God, not feelings or sentiment! We must learn to walk by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).
Sin separates us from God (Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart the LORD will not hear me"), and God is not the one who moved, you did! Even Job didn't realize that his sin was self-righteousness if you look at his boasting in Job 31. In the end, he found repentance at the revelation of God's greatness and it humbled him.
The fact of the matter is that "he is actually not far from each one of us" (cf. Acts 17:27, ESV). God is never further than the mention of His name, but even some believers don't know Him by name--His name isn't "God!" People often mock believers because it seems like their God has abandoned them, but the fact is that He will never leave us nor forsake us (cf. Heb. 13:8). Jesus said in the Great Commission: "...I am with you always...." Jesus name is, in fact, Emmanuel, and that is interpreted as meaning that "God is with us"! That God is nearby is called the immanence of God as per Isaiah 57:15, which says, "This is the high and lofty One [re the transcendence of God] says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'" In short, God is above and beyond, yet approachable!
People often sarcastically inquire where God was in a disaster like 9/11, but people who were there will testify that Jesus was there all the time. When they ask you where God is, simply ask them where He isn't! Where was the church? We don't need a mirror to see that we are walking miracles and, since everything is caused by God, miracles are only unusual events caused by Him, or they'd be called "regulars." There is a God-shaped blank or vacuum in our souls that only God can fill according to Blaise Pascal, and when God lives in our hearts we can communicate and fellowship with Him--that's why we are created in the image of God! (We alone have the will to obey, the heart to love, and the mind to know God.) Animals never wonder about the whereabouts of God, nor ask, since they are oblivious to the spiritual world and knowledge.
Pascal said that in nature we don't see the manifest presence of God, nor the complete absence of God, but the presence of a hidden God. God wants us to find Him and doesn't show Himself to triflers, but those who seek with their whole heart (cf. Jer. 29:13; Isa. 55:6). Isaiah announced, "Truly, you are a God who hides yourself..." (Isa. 45:15, ESV). It is not a matter of God hiding, but of whether we are looking for Him and seeking His face (as Jesus said in Matt. 7:7, "...[Seek] and you shall find...")! Take comfort in Jesus' promise that whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is among them (cf. Matt. 18:20)! Sometimes you may honestly wonder where God, is but then you might be finding out where the devil is!
If you think that they had it good in Jesus' day when He was with them, or that some people are more blessed by having had visions, we have it better than they did because we have the resident Holy Spirit and the complete canon of Holy Writ to guide us and for God to speak to us through. You can find God's presence: "I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me, I said, 'Here am I, here am I,'...." (Isaiah 65:1, NASB). Christianity is not belief there is a God, but believing in the God who is there! As Francis Schaeffer said, "He is there and He is not silent!" In sum, ponder the song: "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place...." (cf. Gen. 28:16). Soli Deo Gloria!
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13, KJV).
"Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6, NASB).
"... Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'" (Joel 2:17, NIV).
"... Why my enemies continually taunt me, saying, 'Where is this God of yours?'" (Ps. 42:3, NLT).
Have you ever felt abandoned by God like Job? He wondered that, too: "Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!" (Job 23:3, ESV). Job was desperate and was confident it wasn't his fault or that he deserved it, but God was MIA to his reckoning. Sometimes God withdraws from us to see what is in our heart! Our faith is more precious than gold and must be tested, to see if we are going by feeling or faith; faith is what pleases God, not feelings or sentiment! We must learn to walk by faith and not by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17).
Sin separates us from God (Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart the LORD will not hear me"), and God is not the one who moved, you did! Even Job didn't realize that his sin was self-righteousness if you look at his boasting in Job 31. In the end, he found repentance at the revelation of God's greatness and it humbled him.
The fact of the matter is that "he is actually not far from each one of us" (cf. Acts 17:27, ESV). God is never further than the mention of His name, but even some believers don't know Him by name--His name isn't "God!" People often mock believers because it seems like their God has abandoned them, but the fact is that He will never leave us nor forsake us (cf. Heb. 13:8). Jesus said in the Great Commission: "...I am with you always...." Jesus name is, in fact, Emmanuel, and that is interpreted as meaning that "God is with us"! That God is nearby is called the immanence of God as per Isaiah 57:15, which says, "This is the high and lofty One [re the transcendence of God] says--he who lives forever, whose name is holy: 'I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.'" In short, God is above and beyond, yet approachable!
People often sarcastically inquire where God was in a disaster like 9/11, but people who were there will testify that Jesus was there all the time. When they ask you where God is, simply ask them where He isn't! Where was the church? We don't need a mirror to see that we are walking miracles and, since everything is caused by God, miracles are only unusual events caused by Him, or they'd be called "regulars." There is a God-shaped blank or vacuum in our souls that only God can fill according to Blaise Pascal, and when God lives in our hearts we can communicate and fellowship with Him--that's why we are created in the image of God! (We alone have the will to obey, the heart to love, and the mind to know God.) Animals never wonder about the whereabouts of God, nor ask, since they are oblivious to the spiritual world and knowledge.
Pascal said that in nature we don't see the manifest presence of God, nor the complete absence of God, but the presence of a hidden God. God wants us to find Him and doesn't show Himself to triflers, but those who seek with their whole heart (cf. Jer. 29:13; Isa. 55:6). Isaiah announced, "Truly, you are a God who hides yourself..." (Isa. 45:15, ESV). It is not a matter of God hiding, but of whether we are looking for Him and seeking His face (as Jesus said in Matt. 7:7, "...[Seek] and you shall find...")! Take comfort in Jesus' promise that whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is among them (cf. Matt. 18:20)! Sometimes you may honestly wonder where God, is but then you might be finding out where the devil is!
If you think that they had it good in Jesus' day when He was with them, or that some people are more blessed by having had visions, we have it better than they did because we have the resident Holy Spirit and the complete canon of Holy Writ to guide us and for God to speak to us through. You can find God's presence: "I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me, I said, 'Here am I, here am I,'...." (Isaiah 65:1, NASB). Christianity is not belief there is a God, but believing in the God who is there! As Francis Schaeffer said, "He is there and He is not silent!" In sum, ponder the song: "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place...." (cf. Gen. 28:16). Soli Deo Gloria!
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