Where Is God?

 “I am a God who is near,” says the Lord.
    “I am also a God who is far away.

No one can hide
    where I cannot see him,” says the Lord.
    “I fill all of heaven and earth,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:23-24 

 

Have you ever felt like maybe God just wasn't there?  Or have you ever felt as if God was someplace far far away looking down on you with detached detachment?  Have you ever wondered if God was anywhere at all?

 

I know such questions make some people uncomfortable, and that's part of the reason I ask them.  If we don't wonder, then we tend to take things for granted.  How many times has a storm knocked out the power, but you still flip the light switch when you enter a room?  How many times have you turned on the faucet and wondered if this will be the time you get coffee instead of water?

 

God gives us a mind, so that we can think and wonder and contemplate and dream and KNOW!  God tells us that He is near!  God also tells us that He is far away!  God tells us that NO ONE can hide from Him!  God tells us that He fills every nook and cranny of the universe and the earth!  Not only that, but Jesus reminded us that God knows everything to know about us (even the stuff we don't know, the stuff we wished He didn't know, and the stuff we don't even think should be known).

 

You see, this is the indication that God's GPS is so much better than mine every time.  My GPS system tends to be that electronic voice that will tick me off and I will argue with (ask my bride).  My GPS tends to be shaky, at best, and completely wrong more times than not.  But God's GPS (God's Provision Services) are always, Always, ALWAYS right on time and just what we need. 

 

There's nothing we can hide from God.  Absolutely nothing.  We may try and we may even believe that, since God didn't send lightning to zap us, God didn't notice.  Nothing escapes His notice.  Everything has a purpose.  Every event is part of God's plan for our good and His glory. 

 

Also know that, since God is everywhere and knows everything, He also feels everything we feel and knows our hurts and holds us as we mourn and cry; He knows our joys and victories and celebrates them with us.  He knows when we do something completely idiotic (and probably chuckles).  If we try to limit God and say He doesn't know how we feel or what we are going through....we don't truly know God and might be time to start talking with Him. 

 

Caution: Old Friends Laughing!

I will be your God throughout your lifetime—
    until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
    I will carry you along and save you.

~Isaiah 46:4 

 

 I remember listening to stories at family gatherings.  Most of them I didn't understand, but I remember the laughter.  I remember listening to my Grampa talking about his friends and seeing his face light up as he remembered some funny tale of their exploits.  Watching he and his friends together laughing as they reminded each other of the stories of their lives was always priceless to me.  I still didn't get all their jokes, but I liked seeing them laugh.

 

This week, tomorrow as a matter of fact, I celebrate the fact that God has taken care of me for another year.  Looking back it's hard to believe the years have slipped by so quickly.  Looking back at the antics I had with some of my friends it's hard to believe we are still alive and not in jail.  But I also look at how many of my friends from my youth have already been called home.

 

A couple of weeks ago I saw a couple of old guys (no, I'm not one of them) sitting together and they were enjoying telling stories of their younger days.  I overheard one of the guys say, "Yep...God's been good to me in spite of me."  When his friend's wife came and took him off, I sat next to this older gentleman and told him I had heard his comment.  He smiled with a twinkle of impishness and said, "You know what Heaven is to me?  Sitting on a bench like this swapping stories and laughter with God."  

 

He must have noticed how his statement gave me pause to think because he chuckled and said, "The bestest friends you have are the ones you have no secrets.  If you are honest with God, you have no secrets and He is your bestest friend, so you can laugh at your mistakes without shame." 

 

What a relationship to strive for!!