WHERE IS GOD?

How are you getting along in the world today? Many of us struggle with the
seemingly constant negative input from the world around us. Things like
the cost of living, the government, crime, illness, relationship problems,
problems in our homes, problems at our work, and problems in our churches.
All of these things cause us to wonder from time to time if life is really
worth living, is God still there, does he still care, or has he abandoned
us to our misery.

A friend wrote me these words in a recent note: "God is just not working
in my life anymore; in fact, I am not really sure where he IS." I believe
that many people have asked this same question through the years, some
have discovered the answer, some have not.

If you are struggling with this question, let me suggest that God is just
where he has always been. James makes this point in James 1:17, (NIV)
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of
the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows". The
point of this verse is that God never changes, he remains the same, and he
is constant in his love for us and his requirements to have a relationship
with us and his willingness to be there for us!.

I would suggest that if there is a change in the relationship, in the
satisfaction or feelings of security we have with God, then it is not he
that has changed. There is an old story about a husband and wife that are
driving down the road in an automobile, each seated on "their side" of the
front seat. The wife looks at the husband behind the steering wheel and
says, "You know when we were first married we used to sit next to each
other." To which the husband replied, "I never moved."

Now there are any number of reasons which seem valid, to move from the
center of the seat to the side of the seat and put some distance between
you and your husband. In the same way, there are many reasons which seem
valid for the changes that take place between where you once were and
where you now are in your relationship to God. No matter how valid those
reasons may seem, the fact remains that it is you who have moved and not
God!

I've tried to think of a nicer, kinder, a more gentle way to say it, but I
just can't seem to find one. If there has been a change in your relation-
ship and you are asking, "Where is God when I need him?" I'll tell you
where he is, God is exactly where he has always been, where you left him;
waiting for you to move back over beside him.

Satan is good at what he does. He knows how to drive wedges between us and
those we love or some time slip dividers in a little at a time which
separate us from the one we really would like to be with. He stops
communication, he breaks down relationships, and he puts up barriers to
keep us from trusting and believing that God is there for us and wants
only the best for us. The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 13:5b,
"for He (God) has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you".

There are people who "drop out of church", just stop attending with the \
Saints. They stop worshipping God, stop praying to God, stop singing his
praises, because they feel hopeless or they feel abandoned. The question
I need for you to think about today is, "if you are getting nothing out of
your relationship to God, nothing out of your local church, who changed?
If it's you then perhaps it is time for you to move back. God said it this
way through his Apostle John in Revelation 2:4-5, "But I have this against
you, that you are turned away from your first love. So keep in mind where
you were at first, and be changed in heart and do the first works; or I
will come to you, and will take away your light from its place, if your
hearts are not changed."