There are at least two different ways to interpret the question: Where is God? You can be asking about location, in the
sense that you want to find God’s presence, either out of curiosity, or, more
profoundly, out of need to know you’re not alone in this universe. The second, and more publicly common way to ask, is the
defiance motive…you’re asking about God’s location, or more accurately, his
absence during an event that could have been prevented from becoming a tragedy.
It’s asking: Where was God when my child died? The first kind of interpretation is a seeker
of God; the second is a judge of God.
Truth be told, it could always be both.
Some would deny ever being angry with God.
I’m not one of them…now! I could
never quite bring myself to admit it, but there have been those times. One of those was when my grandmother died. I loved Grandma Carrie. She had a kind face, and was not above
slipping a cookie in your hand, even just before dinnertime. She was a patient sort; married to an alcoholic,
she had to have the patience of Job.
When cancer took her from us, I cried for weeks. As a pre-teen, anger was my emotional
response to the grief that told me I would never see her again. A lot older now, and, hopefully, a little
wiser, I realize Russell, the child, was asking the defiant kind of question
born of pain: God…where were you
when cancer took my Grandma?
As a child I had to lay the blame for what was wrong in my life on someone. Just as Adam passed along his guilt onto Eve,
making God the culprit of Adam’s sin and failure for giving him that dangerous
play toy, God was also to be my whipping boy.
He should have been there…and He wasn’t.
Now, as an adult, with the blessing of a rearview mirror, the guidance of God’s
Spirit through God’s Word, plus a whole lifetime of experience, the question I
have no longer focuses on the whereabouts of God. Life and God’s gentle guidance have taught me
of His omnipresence in every moment and place I’ve ever walked. Now the question is more appropriate: Where is Russell? Where is Russell’s mind and heart, in
relationship to the God who is everywhere, sees everything, and understands
every DNA molecule He used to fashion my body, and stamped on my invisible
soul? Mr. Wesley’s question: How is it with your soul…is the question I now ask in
the mirror every day.
For You Today
If you’ve been through
some tough living, and you’re tempted to ask the judging question, it would be
better to stand facing the mirror. But
if the pain is too great, go ahead and ask God where He’s been…He’s got big
shoulders. My experience is that He will
gently remind you that He’s where He’s always been, right next to you, waiting
for you to turn….so He can wrap His arms around you.
There
are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library. To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some
of these:
In That Day and The Doily
[1] Images: via Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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