Day 2652 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Psalm 94:14 NIV

Hang onto your hats my friends, this one's been on my mind for a while. We've been talking about the assurances that we have in our faith, but we've been approaching them from the common misunderstandings that humanity often has about them. From whether or not our prayers are heard to this idea of faith being easy to the promise that one day all the trials and challenges we experience will finally make sense, we have so many assured promises in our faith. But still, the world tries with everything it has to tear them down and cause us to question those assurances that we have in Scripture, in our faith, and in our Father.

The promise that I want to talk about today is the promise that God will never leave us nor forsake us. God has never left us. He will never leave us. He will never stop caring about His people. He will never run out of love for those who live according to His will. But how many times have people asked the question, "Where is God?" The wicked, the sinful, and the lost use the tragedies and troubles in our world as an opportunity to attack faith and those who proclaim their trust in Christ. It’s sad, it’s sick, and it’s wildly unhelpful. But still, so many are so lost and their hearts are so hardened that they want nothing more than to attack God and blame Him for the problems in our world and persecute those who have faith in Him.

So let’s do this! Where is God? That's one question that we always hear posed in the aftermath of the world's horrors. Where is God? It's a question that people resort to every time something happens that they don't like or understand. Where is God? A question that claims to seek understanding yet is only coming from a place of distrust and brokenness. Where is God? It's nothing but an out that many use to pass the blame for our world's penchant for evil. Where is God?

You see, people think that God must not be real or that He must not care because our world is in seriously bad shape. If there’s this almighty being out there, then why is there so much hurting? Why is there so much darkness? Why so much evil, and violence, and hatred, and filth? There are so many questions that people ask trying to find a grasp on a reality that they don't want to be real. Why do bad things happen? Why do people hurt people? Why does a God who is supposed to be all about love allow evil to continue to rule the world? Why is there so much that’s broken and bad and negative in this place if this faith thing is supposed to make things better? And again, where is God?

I think the problem is that people are asking that question and the others like it from the wrong perspective. You see, people expect God to control every aspect of life, but they won’t even give Him a few minutes, let alone a heart that is completely surrendered to the life of love and compassion that He calls us to live. They think that if God really existed then our world wouldn't be so messed up. They think that if God were there then nothing bad would happen. They ask these questions in such a way that it's obvious they don't want the answer. They ask these questions rhetorically because they've already made up their minds to not believe. They ask these questions in some effort to blame God and those freaks that believe in Him for the continued existence of wrong in our world. They ask these questions because the hatred and sin in their hearts have closed their minds to being able to trust in something because trust demands responsibility, and nobody wants to admit that they themselves are playing a part in wrong and evil and darkness continuing to grow and flourish by simply doing nothing but ask these one-sided questions.

So yes, where is God? Not in the realm of our universe or in the mindset of eternity. But where is God in your life? Where is God in our government? Where is God in our schools? Where is God in our society?

Oh, wait a minute, now I remember! God isn't in the lives of most because He isn't popular. God isn't in the hearts of many because sin is more fun. God isn't in our minds because we're thinking about ourselves. God isn't given any room in our lives, our minds, our hearts, our world anymore because we've decided that we can do this all better our own way. And that’s exactly what society has done. They’ve taken it upon themselves to live as if they can control everything and therefore no longer need to consider the thought of God let alone give Him control over our hearts and our lives and our world.

So our world has pushed God out of the way in order to keep Him and His rules and His requirements and His truth of right and wrong from getting in the way of our fun and enjoyment and pleasure. We shove Him out of our way so that we can worship politicians and celebrities and athletes instead. We kick Him out of our schools so that we can instead teach kids that they can pick and choose what gender they are and tell them that race must be a priority in how they view others. We close the Bible so that we can open up our phones and catch up on the latest gossip or social media craze. We close our hearts to prayer so that we can open them to judging others and looking down on those who are different.

We celebrate those who are proud of their sin and vilify those who are trying to call attention to the danger of living in that sin. We consume countless hours of violence and filthy humor on TV but can’t see that those things aren’t okay. We allow sin to remain widespread and popular because it’s fun. We ignore our true duty to be responsible and stand up for what’s right because we’d rather sit on our laurels and pretend that we’re better than we really are. And since we’re so perfect, we don’t need some God coming along and pointing out all the chinks in our armor that we’ve learned to ignore.

So where is God? Well, He did what society collectively asked Him to do. Leave us alone. Let us do this our way. Stop killing our buzz and ruining our fun with things like responsibility and consequences. He gave us over to the wickedness in our hearts because if He forced us to believe in Him and to do what’s right then we’d have no skin in the game, no personal connection. So we tell Him to take a hike so that we can spend our time finding ways to continue to cater to all that's wrong and evil and broken about our society. We make sure that He isn't allowed anywhere that we want to remain in control. You can't pray, you can't read the Bible, you can't proclaim Christ, you can't talk about the truth of the Gospel, all because it hurts feelings and goes against the direction that our world has decided to go.

And yet people have the gall to ask where God is. They blame Him when evil people do evil things. They doubt in Him because people choose to do wrong. They make fun of faith and question those who believe in Christ because they won't bend and cave and do as they're told. They build worldly religion as some form of comfort that allows them to retain this delightful illusion that they're righteous while still living in sin. And they keep coming back to asking where God is when those sins that seem so easy to ignore suddenly pop back to the surface and rear their ugly head.

The thing about a question is that it applies to the one who asks it just as much as it does to the one that is asked. So if you're wondering where God is right now, where is He in your life? Does He have room in your heart? Is He welcome into your realm? Or is He just an idea that you blame so that you don't have to feel guilty about sitting on you rear and allowing the world to fall apart because you don’t have the backbone to stand up to the crowd and call out the sins and evils that you see? Is He simply an easy punching bag because He isn't here to face right now? Is He just an out that allows the convenience of having someone to blame when the evil in our world and in our hearts is no longer avoidable?

Folks, evil exists in our world because too many have chosen to remove God from it. Darkness continues to cause these horrible things to unfold because too many choose to doubt in the light of Christ. Nothing gets fixed because people stop at asking asinine questions in an attempt to pass the blame on those who believe in the power of prayer and refuse to give up trying to make a difference in a place that simply doesn't want to be different.

That’s why evil things happen. Because sin is acceptable. Because darkness is fun. Because there’s just no room for God and His commandments in a world that is bent on doing things that only please our selfishness and fulfill all of our desires. Because we’ve become desensitized to just how wrong sin really is. We’ve become used to the parades and protests and hashtags and little frames for our facebook pages that tell the world we’re loving and accepting and won’t judge anyone or anything because we care more about feelings than eternal salvation. We’re okay with letting our brothers and sisters remain on the highway to hell because we’re too scared that telling them what awaits may hurt theirs feelings or get us labeled as a hateful monster that judges people and doesn’t know what love is.

Maybe instead of asking where God is, perhaps we should ask where we've gone wrong and then take that responsibility upon ourselves to start doing better. Or we can keep asking questions that we simply don't want the answers to and watch the world continue to burn to the ground while doing nothing about it because doing something about it would require us to also address the issues in our own lives. Make no mistake, the problems our world has aren’t evidence that God isn’t real or that He doesn’t care. No, the problems in our world are evidence that we’ve asked the source of love and kindness and compassion and healing to leave us alone and let us live in sin.

So where is God? Well, He’s right where He’s always been. He’s on the throne, just not the throne in the hearts of many. He’s waiting with open arms to welcome anyone who’s willing to forsake their sins and ask for His help in living better. He’s pouring out love that sadly our world continues to choose to run from. He never moved, never changed, never quit, never gave up. We did. We chose to forsake Him and ignore Him and shirk His commandments and avoid His truth. The bottom line is that God can’t help if we won’t let Him. And no matter how hard the world may try to blame Him for all that’s wrong, that blame falls squarely on us for allowing sin to remain popular and righteousness to go by the wayside so that we can have fun and run wild.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold