Like Invisible Ink (Hard Questions, Part 2)

In Part 1 of this two-part series, we looked at two of the questions we usually ask when we're in a spiritual valley.  The first question, "is God really here with me in my valley?" we answered with a resounding yes.  (For a refresher on how we figured that out, see Part 1.)  But knowing this doesn't seem like enough; I imagine some of you are probably asking the next question:

"Well, if God really is here with me in my valley, then where is He??"   

I used to ask this question literally all the time.  And if you are asking it too, you're in good company!  Hundreds of people in the Bible asked it -- probably screamed it -- and shed bitter tears when they felt that God had abandoned them in their darkest hour.  So where is He??
  
"Why, O Lord, do You stand far away?  Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? . . . . In the pride of his face the wicked says, 'He will not call to account;' all his thoughts are, 'There is no God.' . . . He says in his heart, 'God has forgotten, He has hidden His face, He will never see it.'  . . . But You do see, for You note mischief and vexation, that You may take it into Your hands; to You the helpless commits himself; You have been the helper of the fatherless. . . . O Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart; You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed." -Psalm 10: 1, 4, 11, 14, 17-18a

Months ago, I came across one tiny verse tucked away in the Psalms, and that verse started this whole series. "Your way was through the sea, Your path through the great waters; yet Your footprints were unseen.  You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." -Psalms 77:19-20

He has been here all along, even when we don't see Him.  He has promised "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you," and it takes faith to believe that He is with us, even when the world taunts us and insists that He is not.    

"The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, haven not forsaken those who seek You." -Psalm 9:9-10

Here's the key: God's way often doesn't make sense until afterwards (if it ever will this side of Heaven).  Often while we're walking through a dark season, we don't see His "footprints", and it takes faith to believe that He is here, He hasn't left, He is guiding, and His plan is in motion.  We have to choose to walk by faith and not by what we can see (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Look for Him in the little things.  As you begin noticing little answers to prayer here and there, it will encourage you to press on in faith that He will also answer the big things in His timing.  

 "O Lord, You have searched me and known me!  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar.  You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.  Even before a word is on my tongue, behold O Lord, You know it altogether.  You hem me in, behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.  Where shall I go from Your Spirit?  Or where shall I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, You are there!  If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there!  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me and Your right hand shall hold me.  If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,' even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You. . . . How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God!  How vast is the sum of them!  If I would count them, they are more than the sand.  I awake, and I am still with You." -Psalm 139: 1-12, 17-18

So to answer your question: where is God?

He's been here all along.  Just like invisible ink that can only be revealed by a very specific light, or by a heat source, God has been here all along.  Sometimes it takes the blazing heat of the "furnace" to see it.  The challenge doesn't lie in the fact that God is there; the challenge lies in our faith -- our choice to believe it and actively walk in it, enduring until the end, believing His promise never to forsake us.


"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. . . . And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:1,6