Where is God?

This post is a response to a Facebook post I received.  I find the issue so compelling that I believe it is best answered here on my blog.  This is an age old question.  If there is a God, why do bad things happen?  Where is God and why do I not see God in times of trouble.

“Why does God show up in the Bible when people cry out to Him and in movies…”

This assumes that God does not show up at other times.  However, since God is always active in the Spirit, God is always present.  So often we look for God, mostly when things seem at their worst.  This can be when our sight is the worst of all and when faith is needed most.

When Jesus was taken before Pilate, things were at their worst for the Apostles.  Things were so bad they went into hiding.  They were not only fearful of what was going to happen to Jesus but also to themselves.  This unwarranted fear was despite being told by Jesus of what would happen to Himself and how he would defeat death.  Peter even when confronted directly, denied Jesus three times.  He denied the person he said was Lord, Son of God.  Peter believed Jesus was the Son yet he was in despair and denied Jesus.  So, is it that God is not present?  No, God is always present yet we do not see.  Those things recorded in the Bible, do not mean that people necessarily recognized the hand of God at work, until after the fact.  Also with regards to the Bible, the Psalms are full of pleas to God for help yet some hear no answer.  We choose to see the “miracles” in the time of need and fail to see that what God does.  What God choose to do or not, is a mystery….  That is part of the mystery of faith.  Trust (which is faith) that God is who God is and will continue to be God in all things.  In this we look at the eschatological God and wait for the end, which is the beginning of eternity.  With regards to movies…..it is after all, a movie.  It is about making money.  Movies are bad for theology and religion as a whole!

Here is a troubling statement:  “…if one can experience God’s presence in the worst of circumstances, then that person is truly saved.”  This can be seen as a theology of glory.  “The theology of glory knows God from his works…”.[i] What I hear is, that by seeing God in action, then someone knows God and therefore will be saved.  In contrast I subscribe to the theology of the cross.

“That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who looks upon the invisible things of God as if it were clearly perceptible in those things which have actually happened. He deserves to be called a theologian, however, who comprehends the visible and manifest things of God seen through suffering and the cross.”[ii]

Another issue with the statement also is the idea of “truly saved” in this context.  I am taking the context to be saved from damnation, since it does not seem appropriate that there is an illness this is referenced to.  If I have misinterpreted, then I apologize for my misinterpretation.  I would not expect the word “saved” to be used in the context of being sick.  Our salvation is not dependent upon us at all and especially not upon us to “…experience God’s presence…” in good or worst circumstances.  Many of us are familiar with John 3:16-17, where it says; “16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”[iii]  Some believe that works of some sort are required in order to be saved.  In the case of the quote from the post it could be “…experiencing God’s presence”.  However that experience might play out. However, we as humans deserve nothing from God and do nothing to merit God’s life giving salvation in Christ.  The confessions of the Lutheran Church say;

Regarding the righteousness of faith before God, we unanimously believe, teach, and confess on the basis of the general summary of our Christian faith and confession expressed above that poor sinful people are justified before God, that is, absolved [5 highlights]—pronounced free of all sins and of the judgment of the damnation that they deserved and accepted as children and heirs of eternal life [5 highlights]—without the least bit of our own “merit or worthiness” [SC, “Creed,” 4], apart from all preceding, present, or subsequent works. We are justified on the basis of sheer grace, because of the sole merit, the entire obedience, and the bitter suffering, death, and the resurrection of our Lord Christ alone, whose obedience is reckoned to us as righteousness. [iv]

I see the statement, “…But I can’t help but think that the language of pain is normally what God uses to refine us.” Theology of the cross is about the pain and suffering that Christ takes upon Christ’s self in full obedience to God for humanities sake.  This is where we see God.  God does not cause suffering nor does The Lord want us to suffering. God uses all that happens, good and bad, for God’s purpose in the world.  By having a God, who became human, 100% human, 100% deity, we have a God that understands, has experienced, one we can relate to and feels our suffering.  There is no other god than our God that has died for humanity of past, present and future.

When we are in the midst of suffering, it is okay to be angry with God, it is okay to yell up to God and ask…..Why God….why me, them, now, why this or that….why why why?  God wants us to lift both joy and sorrow up to God.  This is all apart of relationship that God seeks through Jesus Christ and the Holy Sprit with us.  We are broken, and sinful.  We have pain and suffering in this world.  We call out to The Lord, come Lord Jesus come.  We await the birth of our savior in this Advent season.  We look for Emanuel.

Come Lord Jesus come………….