"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..." (Isaiah 65:1, NASB)
"Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12, NASB).
"What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence of God nor his manifest presence, but rather the presence of a hidden God." (Blaise Pascal, French mathematician/philosopher).
Reread that title and realize it can be deciphered two ways: God is now here; God is nowhere. Probably you may preconceive your own interpretation due to prejudice! The query shouldn't be, "Where is God?" but, "Where isn't God?" The truth is that God is everywhere, even in Hades (though not in His compassion, but only justice). When we are looking for God, it is not He who moved, but we moved! We cannot escape the presence of God, as David prays in Psalm 139.
We are commanded to look for God and to search Him out at His invitation: "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13, NASB). We are to seek Him while He may be found in Isaiah 55:6 and to find Him while He is near! When you find God, you realize He was there all the time! Mention His name and have a sincere, expectant, and obedient heart.
"Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,..." (Isaiah 45:15, NASB). Job had reason to wonder: "Oh that I knew where I might find Him,..." (Job 23:2, NASB). Sometimes God seems MIA or missing in action, but He is there, and it's likely our sins have built a chasm from fellowship or a breach of our relationship due to the cleavage from our unconfessed sin. Psalm 66:18, NASB says it eloquently: "If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear." Sometimes God is playing a low profile and doesn't want to be so obvious: "How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? ..." (Psalm 89:46, NASB).
Yes, the whereabouts of God isn't meant to be a mystery, but He is available to all who call upon His name in penitent, sincere, obedient faith. Sometimes it seems to others that God has forsaken us, but Jesus promised He never would do that even to the end of the age He would be with us--don't let it get to you if they taunt you saying, "Where is this God of yours?" Because we know He is always here, they are just blind and are turning a deaf ear; only the saved see the kingdom of God and if they want their eyes opened they must repent and believe in Jesus.
God doesn't deal in triflers, and His pet peeve is that people aren't seeking (cf. Rom. 3:11). God is more ready to authenticate Himself to you than you are prepared to meet Him! "Prepare to meet thy God," He says in Amos 4:12. Pascal said he wouldn't have found God, had He not searched for him. Everyone has their chance, you might say, and the world has never been without witness (cf. Acts 14:17). As Christians, we have it better than the Old Testament saints because the Lord dwells within us and whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, there is a special blessing of His divine presence.
Finding God isn't so much as to go where God is, like to church expecting He'd have to be there; it's an individual thing, and if you know the Lord you will indeed find Him. But the Hound of Heaven pursues us and like a Good Shepherd is constantly seeking out the lost sheep (the believer who has lost his way). Because of God's transcendence, He fills the cosmos, and because of His immanence, He is also nearby to aid us in our troubles and bless us. "'Am I a God who is near,' declares the LORD, 'And not a God far off? ... Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?' declares the LORD" (Jer. 23:23-24, NASB). God is irrespective of the time/space continuum and location is no object to Him because He is Spirit and not material like us who have bodies to limit us--Jesus is both Spirit and body in His incarnation. Some believers will be known by saying regretfully, "He was there all the time, and I knew it not!"
Jesus' name is called Immanuel and that is to mean that God is with us and when we have the resident Spirit of Christ indwelling us we never have to lose track of where God is--He will never leave us nor forsake us and will abide with us in a personal sense. We have all the tools necessary to find God, the Word, the Church, the abiding Spirit; so we have no excuse not to be filled with His Spirit and to know Him privately and personally. Only in our faith do we claim the potential to know God and that God is personal. "Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace..." (Job 22:21, KJV); "Yield now and be at peace with Him; Thereby good will come to you" (Job 22:21, NASB).
To level with you, most believers are not moved by the Holy Spirit, nor have the discernment to awaken to His presence, simply because they have too much of the world's spirit within them and God cannot fill a space already full! Before filling, in God's economy, comes emptying! In sum, it is a boggling affair to know the Lord and to put things into that perspective. Soli Deo Gloria!
"Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD Until He comes to rain righteousness on you" (Hosea 10:12, NASB).
"What can be seen on earth indicates neither the total absence of God nor his manifest presence, but rather the presence of a hidden God." (Blaise Pascal, French mathematician/philosopher).
Reread that title and realize it can be deciphered two ways: God is now here; God is nowhere. Probably you may preconceive your own interpretation due to prejudice! The query shouldn't be, "Where is God?" but, "Where isn't God?" The truth is that God is everywhere, even in Hades (though not in His compassion, but only justice). When we are looking for God, it is not He who moved, but we moved! We cannot escape the presence of God, as David prays in Psalm 139.
We are commanded to look for God and to search Him out at His invitation: "You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart" (Jer. 29:13, NASB). We are to seek Him while He may be found in Isaiah 55:6 and to find Him while He is near! When you find God, you realize He was there all the time! Mention His name and have a sincere, expectant, and obedient heart.
"Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,..." (Isaiah 45:15, NASB). Job had reason to wonder: "Oh that I knew where I might find Him,..." (Job 23:2, NASB). Sometimes God seems MIA or missing in action, but He is there, and it's likely our sins have built a chasm from fellowship or a breach of our relationship due to the cleavage from our unconfessed sin. Psalm 66:18, NASB says it eloquently: "If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear." Sometimes God is playing a low profile and doesn't want to be so obvious: "How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? ..." (Psalm 89:46, NASB).
Yes, the whereabouts of God isn't meant to be a mystery, but He is available to all who call upon His name in penitent, sincere, obedient faith. Sometimes it seems to others that God has forsaken us, but Jesus promised He never would do that even to the end of the age He would be with us--don't let it get to you if they taunt you saying, "Where is this God of yours?" Because we know He is always here, they are just blind and are turning a deaf ear; only the saved see the kingdom of God and if they want their eyes opened they must repent and believe in Jesus.
God doesn't deal in triflers, and His pet peeve is that people aren't seeking (cf. Rom. 3:11). God is more ready to authenticate Himself to you than you are prepared to meet Him! "Prepare to meet thy God," He says in Amos 4:12. Pascal said he wouldn't have found God, had He not searched for him. Everyone has their chance, you might say, and the world has never been without witness (cf. Acts 14:17). As Christians, we have it better than the Old Testament saints because the Lord dwells within us and whenever two or three are gathered together in His name, there is a special blessing of His divine presence.
Finding God isn't so much as to go where God is, like to church expecting He'd have to be there; it's an individual thing, and if you know the Lord you will indeed find Him. But the Hound of Heaven pursues us and like a Good Shepherd is constantly seeking out the lost sheep (the believer who has lost his way). Because of God's transcendence, He fills the cosmos, and because of His immanence, He is also nearby to aid us in our troubles and bless us. "'Am I a God who is near,' declares the LORD, 'And not a God far off? ... Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?' declares the LORD" (Jer. 23:23-24, NASB). God is irrespective of the time/space continuum and location is no object to Him because He is Spirit and not material like us who have bodies to limit us--Jesus is both Spirit and body in His incarnation. Some believers will be known by saying regretfully, "He was there all the time, and I knew it not!"
Jesus' name is called Immanuel and that is to mean that God is with us and when we have the resident Spirit of Christ indwelling us we never have to lose track of where God is--He will never leave us nor forsake us and will abide with us in a personal sense. We have all the tools necessary to find God, the Word, the Church, the abiding Spirit; so we have no excuse not to be filled with His Spirit and to know Him privately and personally. Only in our faith do we claim the potential to know God and that God is personal. "Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace..." (Job 22:21, KJV); "Yield now and be at peace with Him; Thereby good will come to you" (Job 22:21, NASB).
To level with you, most believers are not moved by the Holy Spirit, nor have the discernment to awaken to His presence, simply because they have too much of the world's spirit within them and God cannot fill a space already full! Before filling, in God's economy, comes emptying! In sum, it is a boggling affair to know the Lord and to put things into that perspective. Soli Deo Gloria!