Where is God?
Victor Hugo wrote that God is a verb, and he was correct. God is action. He created. He came. He demonstrated. Scripture is full of God doing. He is more than a subject (noun), and thankfully is more than a modifier (adjective/adverb).
When Moses asked God to introduce Himself, He did so with the present tense verb of being: “I am.” Over and over in His Book, God affirms who He is, what He does, and where He is by His action-name: “I am with you.”
And therein is God’s vulnerability. If He did not claim to be present and accounted for—all the time—then we could reasonably expect Him to be absent sometimes. If He is absent occasionally—or frequently—then we would have a logical explanation for why bad things occur. “If only God were here…,” our reasoning would go. Conversely, if God shows up every now and then, we could explain our serendipitous events of good fortune: “Oh, my! God was here and…!”
But God does not claim to be present one moment and absent the next. He claims to be constant…right now…and now…and now…. “I am,” is His claim.
And by itself, while being present all the time makes God vulnerable, it does not make Him culpable. It is His additional declaration that He loves us beyond description and is all-powerful.
God is constantly present, loving us all the time, and infinitely capable.
So why do bad things happen to me? If God loves me, if I can’t escape Him or wander off from Him, and He possesses the ability to do anything, then where is He when I need Him? The assumption is, that if something bad is about to occur, then God’s love and absolute power will prevent evil from affecting me.
Obviously, bad things happen. When they do, the rudimentary question we ponder is: Where is God? He says He is always on duty. That means this circumstance occurred on His watch. “What happened, God? Where were you?”
When we think circumstantially, unpleasant things reflect poorly upon God’s love and power. Either we need to redefine His “love” as capricious and cruel or come to grips with the inexorable fact that God’s power is not absolute. We suffer. Struggle. Our stress is significant. If we are enveloped in God’s love, how do we explain blights, plagues, tragedies, deaths, and loss? Why doesn’t He do something? Where is He?
This rationale is one of the oldest arguments in humanity. The oldest book in the Bible, Job, wrestles with this question for forty-two chapters. Hundreds of years later, I find myself asking the same question. If God is a verb, why doesn’t He act in my defense and on my behalf?
I am convinced our turmoil to reconcile God’s preeminence and love with our circumstances is a key target in Satan’s strategy to undermine our confidence in God. Otherwise, why would this question surface so frequently? Given the unpleasant situations around us, Satan’s raising of the question is constant!
I will write to you soon about my views on this question. Like you, I have wrestled with it through many sleepless nights. But in this letter, I want to refer you to a book on the subject. You can order it through Lifetime.
William Young is the author of The Shack. It is not high theology; it is a novel. As I read the book, I found the author taking the courageous step of transporting me outside my paradigms of comfort. He would let me squirm for a few paragraphs, and then he would pick me up and comfort me with his story. His book is a good read, and I recommend it to you…which as you know, I don’t do very often.
Sometimes, a story does more to advance our thinking than facts do. This is the case with The Shack. If your life is placid and comfortable, I would suggest you read something else. On the other hand, if you feel the tension between your circumstances and whether or not God is present, in control, and worthy of your trust, I would suggest you read this book. Warning: It is a hard start…but with good reason. I think it will bless your soul. Beyond all, it will encourage your confidence in Father’s faithfulness.
My friend, you know I think the world of you. I have written to you every month—faithfully—for thirteen years. You are important to me. Thanks for being my friend. Thanks for reading. Thanks for considering the perspectives I share with you.
PS I don’t recommend many books—I think Malcolm Smith’s was the last—but The Shack, by William Young (available through LGI) is a profitable and worthwhile read. In the constant assault on God’s character, this book provides leverage against the circumstantial doubt that comes our way. Like Victor Hugo said, God is indeed a verb. If this were not the case, He would not have come to us in our desperate straights and offered us hope in Christ Jesus.
