Bruce’s Ministry

Where Is God?

Posted by Bruce Norton on May 13 2009

1 Why , O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?   Psalms 10:1 (NIV)

It has been a while since I have written a post to my blog.  Quite honestly, my attention has been diverted to a number of issues involving people who are suffering which has taken up quite a bit of my time and mind share. 

It is so easy in the midst of our suffering for us to believe God is not with us – to think he must be somewhere else, otherwise I would not be suffering.  The Psalmists asked this question.  Even Jesus, Son of God, who was the human incarnation of God cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”–which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Matt 27:46 (NIV)

Often if, in the midst of suffering, we believe God is with us, we leap to the conclusion that he must be punishing us for something we did.  Job said what we all feel sometimes when he said, "The arrows of God Almighty are in me, poison arrows—and I’m poisoned all through! God has dumped the whole works on me. "  Job 6:4 (MSG)

What we fail to realize is that God gave us free will.  And while I do believe God does sometimes allow us to suffer in order to teach us something we need to learn, more often than not, our suffering comes from our choices and the choices of others.  In these cases God sometimes intervenes and other times He redeems the experience later.  In most, if not all of these situations, we would swear that God is not there.  What I have learned recently, though, is that we don’t always see where God is, and we rarely see where God is going, but it is not too difficult to see where God has been.

One of the situations that has taken my attention from blogging recently is an incident that occurred with the daughter of a good friend of mine.  The daughter planned her suicide in great detail.  She started by cleaning her room to make her mom happy.  Then she started making phone calls and texting her friends to say goodbye.  One of her friends was able to figure out that her message to him meant she was about to kill herself.  He then contacted her sister and mother to let them know what was going on.  They were able to intervene and take her keys so she could not drive her car off a bridge like she had planned to do. 

In the face of this it would be easy to think that her despair was caused when God was not watching out for her.  And I believe her despair was partially caused by her estranged relationship with God.  She lacked hope which was caused by her unwillingness to acknowledge Him and His role in her life.  And yet even with this estrangement, He was with her then and has been with her the whole time.  He spoke through the Holy Spirit and revealed the true nature of her message to her friend who was listening and prompted him to act on that revelation.  His presence could not be seen at the time this was going on.  But we can surely see where he had been.

Another situation that has taken my attention from blogging occurred with another daughter of another friend of mine.  While visiting her grandparents, her grandfather began groping her and trying to have his way with her.  Her grandmother was in the house but did not witness the incident.  The next day, the girl called her mom who called me.  We discussed the situation, and eventually the girl’s mom confronted her stepfather.  She then told her mother.  Her stepfather first denied it completely.  Then to his wife, he said the girl was coming on to him.  Then, he finally owned up to his behavior and admitted the truth.

So where was God in all this?  God was there the whole time even though no one saw him there.  First, no one questioned the girl’s story.  Second, the girl’s relationship with her mother had been very strained.  God began redeeming this situation for the girl and her mother by bringing them closer together and strengthening their relationship.  Third, the grandfather had done this before in other relationships.  Clearly he needed to get help for his sinful behavior.  God was able to reveal this dark side of the grandfather’s nature to him in a way that the grandfather was able to understand it was bigger than him and that he needed help.  Fourth,  instead of abandoning her relationship with her husband, which would have been supported Biblically, she chose to love him while holding him accountable for his behavior.  Together they are pursuing the counseling they need to help him with his behavior, and to bring them closer together as a married couple.  While the situation is a very painful one, the best possible result is being achieved by God’s intervention and redemption.

Suffering brings with it growth.  And while I don’t believe God causes suffering, He does use the suffering we cause ourselves to bring about our spiritual growth.  Even though we don’t always feel Him near, He is.  And even though we can’t always see where He is, we can see where He has been if only we open our eyes.

Bruce..