Where are You, God?

It's amazing to me where God is found, and it's not always in the most conspicuous places. I believe God is discovered in answered prayers and poured out blessings, but we don't expect prayers' answers to to include illness, or blessings to be hardship. And so we often cry out, "where are you, God?"

I know you don't pray for illnesses or hardships. That's nuts! But sometimes to get from where we are to where we are going is on a long, bumpy road.

And it's on that road that we find God.

Israel and Judah(the North and Southern Kingdoms after the country split in two following King Solomon's reign) had a difficult road to travel. They created it for themselves. They forsook the very God who had blessed them and then they prayed for God to get them out of the mess they created. But God wasn't interested in giving them grace that had no accountability, which meant that their prayers were answered, but not in the way that they expected or desired. They wanted peace from their enemies and asked that God would defeat those who rose against them. God gave them peace, but in exile, living amongst those who were their enemies. They wanted a renewed faith. They got it, but not in Samaria or at Bethel or Dan (the Capital of Israel and their temples) or in Judah or Jerusalem. They got it in Assyria and later, Babylon as they grieved and repented.

I've heard many people's prayers, including my own, that called for rescue from the mess we've created. "Look at what I've done, God. Fix it for me!" is a common prayer in our arsenal. But it rarely works. God would rather walk with us down the difficult road, because it's there that we can learn to trust God, and the value of obedience.

"Where are You, God?" Right where God needs to be. Along side us, waiting for us to seek His help, refining us, remaking us into a stronger, more faithful people if we'll accept God's answers to our cries for help, down the more difficult road!

Cry Out!

He's here.

Peace ><>
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