(Friends: during this series,
the messages may frequently be longer than usual due to the subject matter. Thanks for your patience, and I think
you will find the considerations interesting, and hopefully, helpful in our walk
with the Lord. Glen)
Part 21 – “Where Was
God?”
The question of God’s “Where?” often leads to matters of
morality, as opposed to proximity – as in, “Where was God when this particularly
difficult or tragic event happened?”
Often, those who raise the
question do so with the intent to attack either the existence of God – “How can
there be a God if such thing happened?” – or, the character of God – “How can a
loving God have allowed such a thing to happen?” Moreover, even devout believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ have honest questions about our Lord’s determinations and
allowance of evil and tragedy.
The best answer begins
with a definite response – “God was there
when such things took place.”
Indeed, an omnipresent God, as affirmed in Scripture, cannot fail to be everywhere in His creation. Our Lord exists, and He is present in
every venue of the universe He made and sustains. This we must declare unequivocally,
anticipating the inevitable questions that ensue, again, the moral inquiries. “How could the Lord have been there, in
the heart of calamity and witnessing it, and failed to have acted to prevent
it?”
At this point, our answer
becomes far less definitive, at least at the outset of seeking to respond. Concerning the particular details of
pain, loss, suffering and tragedy - whether the result of wickedness, or natural calamity - we
rarely, if ever, can say with certainty, “This is why God did not act to prevent
the event.” Indeed, I suspect that
angels fear to tread where humans too often go in seeking to understand the
determinations and allowances of our Lord.
“His ways are past finding out” (Romans 11:33). Thus, we must answer the question of why
God did not act with a wise and unashamed, “I do not know.”
Upon this basis of
honesty and humility regarding the particulars of events, we once again return
to a definitive affirmation regarding God and His ways.
“I may not know why the Lord
acted as He did in the situation, but this I do know without any shadow of
doubt: the Bible declares that “as for God, His way is perfect.” Furthermore, Scripture promises that He
is wise enough, powerful enough, present enough, and loving enough to work all
things together for good to them that love God, and are the called according to
His purpose. So, while I cannot
provide the specifics of why God allowed things to happen, of this I am
sure: He was there, and He acted perfectly in the
matter. And of this I am also
sure: The real issue is whether you
and I are among those who love the Lord, and are the called according to His
purpose.”
We lovingly seek to bring
the one who questions God into serious consideration of the truth of God, and of
His Gospel as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ll never be able to answer every
question, but we do not need to do so, nor does our hearer require perfect
understanding. He or she does
require faith, however, either in coming to salvation, or in continuing to love
and trust God as a believer. We
strongly affirm the perfect character and way of our Lord in the attempt to
elicit such confidence, and the Holy Spirit doubtless empowers our testimony as
the question “Where was God?” provides opportunity for consideration of the
greater inquiry, “Who is God?” And,
do we know, love, and seek to trust, obey, and honor Him in all things?
“Yea, they shall sing in
the ways of the LORD: for great
is the glory of the LORD.”
(Psalm 138:5)
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