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  

God of My Valley (Hard Questions, Part 1)

There are times when we endure a season of suffering and, through it all, enjoy a heightened sense of God's presence.  But what about those times when it feels like God has dumped you in the middle of something hard and left you on your own to figure it out?  Where is God then?

Over the years I've asked this question a lot.  Some questions have no answers outside Heaven, but along the way, God has taught me two very important lessons.

The first lesson is illustrated in 1 Kings 20, when Ahab, the king of Israel, is warned by a prophet that the Arameans (some translations say "the Syrians") are gearing up for attack.  Ahab prepares the Israelites for battle and goes out to meet Aram, but an embarrassing sight awaits them.  The Arameans fill the country, while the Israelites in comparison look like two small flocks of goats (v. 27)!

The situation looks pretty grim, but Israel is about to find out that God has a beef with Aram.  "Then a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel and said, 'Thus says the LORD, "Because the Arameans have said, 'The LORD is a god of the mountains, but He is not a god of the valleys', therefore I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the LORD" ' " (v. 28).

At that time, pagan nations like Aram believed that gods had only so much power, and were confined to specific areas (like mountains and valleys).  According to notes written on 1 Kings 20:23 from the Ryrie Study Bible, the Arameans wanted to fight in the valley because they believed that Israel could only win if they fought battles on the hills, since Israel's God controlled the hills. 

There really is no need to finish the story, because God had set Himself in opposition to Aram, which means that no matter how many troops Aram brought against God, He would win.  What I want you to see is what offended God in the first place.  

He was offended by the accusation that He was only a God of the hills, and not also a God of the valleys.

If you know me well enough, you know that I hear that with a different perspective entirely!

Christians sometimes label stormy seasons as "valleys" and sunny, celebratory seasons as "mountaintops."  (I know I do!) If we take this point of view and apply it to Aram's accusation of God, it sounds like Aram is saying, "You're only in control, present, and gracious during the sunny times.  But when the stormy times come, You go M.I.A.!"

This is a lie, no matter how true it may sometimes feel.  God wants it made very clear that He is equally as present (sometimes even more so to our awareness) in the valley.  

"For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness.  These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing." -Deuteronomy 2:7

"But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, a land that the LORD your God cares for.  The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." -Deuteronomy 11:11-12 

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." -Psalms 23:4

God never, ever, ever lets go of your hand.  He has not left you, even though you feel alone.  David says that there is no way we can lose God or get away from Him (Psalms 139: 7-10).  He is most certainly a God of the valleys!  

But what about my original question?  If God is with us in the valley, then where is He?  

I'll address that in Part 2. :)