Where is God?
As we struggle through these evil times, the question “where is God?” is expected, even healthy. It is the spark that can ignite the fire within that leads to the defeat of evil. However, asking the question from a viewpoint and opinion that He has abandoned “us” is foolish, defeatist, and, especially if from a mind of doubt, in my opinion, evil.
So, where exactly is our Father in Heaven? Where is He right now, in our time of desperate need? Let’s first look back to see where God was in other desperate times of His people Israel. Let’s take a look at the plight of Elijah in 1Kings.
To summarize the background, the people had been led astray by a rather large group of prophets that bowed their necks to Baal. Who was this Baal?
Baal was the god of the Canaanites. Worship of Baal included, among other sadistic practices, child sacrifice. Hold on to that little fact for a moment – I’m going to come back to that detail. They saw their god as much stronger than the God El – the God of Israel. The people of Israel had grown weak in their devotion to El, to God. They had let their faith wane. Along came the Canaanites who convinced them that Baal was the god to follow, he being the strongest in the pantheon of evil gods.
Let’s take a short rabbit trail for a moment and look at “faith”. In Hebrews 11:1 we are taught, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Incidentally, in numerology – which is part of Jewish Mysticism i.e. numbers express a specific vibrational essence that can connect a person to the hidden, inner truth at the foundation of their being – the number “111” conveys a message that you are in the right place at the right time when you encounter it. I did not know that the scripture I share here is Hebrews 11:1. Strictly food for (further) thought.)
So, Israel, in its weakened state, walks away from God and, as a people, bow their necks to Baal. They bowed to the leadership and counsel of 450 false prophets. God then sends Elijah to confront and deal with this evil. Why? Because God loves His creation. He loves His people. Who are His people? Humanity. Then what about the Canaanites?
The Canaanites were the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Ham was the son of Noah, who, finding his father passed out from too much wine and lying naked, instead of protecting his father’s innocence sought instead to share the sight with his brothers, who, in their respect and integrity, covered their father with his garment. For this Noah cursed the son of Ham, Canaan.
It is taught – assumed – that with the flood all evil was destroyed. We see in the story above (Genesis 9) that evil has its way of preserving itself, of surviving. Who can deny that truth as we look around at the deepest, darkest evil that has ever existed on Earth since the time of Noah prior to the deluge? Indeed, I could talk of what I firmly know is behind this evil we face today. Rampant human slavery, child slavery and torture, child sacrifice, adrenochrome. Are you awake yet? I question with a deep sense of surety that Noah and his family were not the only ones who survived the deluge, the flood. Read your Bible with ears to hear and eyes to see. Read beyond the Bible, e.g. the Book of Enoch.
The Canaanites were evil. Here we had God’s children Israel faced with an internal dilemma. They had become the wayward child that thinks they knew better than what their Father had been trying to teach them. Love is not always roses and sunlight. Love does not pamper disillusion and rebellion. Love seeks that which is lost and determines what is necessary to bring back the object of that Love into its protective and loving arms. God will not be mocked. When pushed, the Love of God will take a stand, it will prevail. And His Love will take on whatever means necessary to accomplish His Will. In the case of those who would lead His children astray, they had to be destroyed.
Wait, that was the God of the Old Testament. He made a New Testament (agreement) through Jesus! Really? Does God “change”??
For I the Lord do not change; Malachi 3:6
What did Jesus say about leading children to sin? The three synoptic gospels tell us quite clearly:
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2
Can you honestly say that is not an advocation for violence to be done against those who harm the innocent of God?
But regarding the Canaanites, though the Israelites were the “children” of God, they were not, as a whole, children as Jesus uses the term in its literal sense above. True, however for that very reason, IMHO, God’s hand was forced by the very ones He Loved in just how He had to get them to return. He chose the method by which they would never forget. God could have rained down fire and brimstone as He did on Sodom and Gomorrah. But the method must fit the circumstances. He had to turn an entire people around, not just one family. So Israel was instructed to wipe out themselves the very evil that led them astray, lest they forget.
Back to Elijah. Elijah had just slain those 450 false prophets of Baal. That act came with a risk that came to fruition: the Canaanite rulers sought to kill him. So Elijah ran, eventually hiding in a cave. He asked the question, “where is God” in my time of need? Well, that is not an exact telling. What is asked of God was to take his life. In the midst of his inner turmoil, the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” I’ll let the Bible answer what was next.
10 So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
14 And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
15 Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. 17 It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill. 18 Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
1Kings 19: 10-18
Where was God? In the strong wind? No. In the earthquake? No. In the fire? No. Where was He in Elijah’s time of need? In a still, small voice. That term, “a still, small voice”, can be translated as “a delicate whispering voice”.
If I stand next to you and tell you something in a “delicate whisper”, I would have to have my lips very close to your ear. But in verse 11, we are told God “passed by.” In other words, God was not “physically” present. So if God was not “standing next” to Elijah, where was He?
The Wisdom of God expands far beyond the Bible. That is something we all must realize. However this subject is not directly related to this discussion at hand and I’ll address that in a future post. At a person’s first moral judgment as a young child, he or she is given the gift of the Holy Spirit, a Divine partner, the spark of God within. This particle of God is distinct from one’s soul or conscience. Going forward in one’s life, the degree to which a human mind chooses to accept the Spirit’s guidance becomes the degree to which a person’s soul “grows” and becomes a reality that moves a person closer to God and the outpouring of His Will within that person’s life. The soul is in essence an embryonic spiritual development, one parental factor being the Divine Spirit within and the other being the human will.
But we are mostly unconscious of this inner ministry. We are quite incapable of distinguishing the product of our own material intellect from that of the conjoint activities of our soul and the Holy Spirit. We must be strongly fideistic and realize that neither science nor logic will ever be able to prove or disprove the existence of God. Faith is necessary to become conscious of God’s presence in human experience, that is, the work of the Holy Spirit within.
The idea of the indwelling presence of God can be compared to the Hindu atman and the ancient Egyptian ka. In relation to biblical traditions, the indwelling presence of God is said to be the meaning behind the phrases “being made in God’s image” and the “kingdom of God is within you”.
Where is God in all of this mayhem turning life on the planet Earth upside down? He is IN YOU. He is IN ME. He is in ALL of those who CHOOSE to follow Him and not Baal. Yes, He able to rain down fire and brimstone and wipe evil away. Why does He CHOOSE not to? Because WE have created and allowed things to get as far as they have. WE walked away from God. Nietzsche is quoted as saying, “God is dead!” But in that same statement he concluded, “and WE have killed Him!” Now from what side of his soapbox he meant that is immaterial. He was absolutely correct. We killed God in our monetary systems. We killed God in our educational systems. We killed God in our political institutions. We killed God in our health system. Until, eventually, we killed Him within our own hearts. However, if evil can slither its way past the waters and the fires of God, how much more can God within stake its claim forever in our hearts and minds? Hidden, yes. Gone? For many, unfortunately, yes, but for many, no.
After straightening out Elijah’s mind and view of his situation, God then sent him on a task to actually appoint new leaders. Anticipating Elijah’s doubt over the seemingly impossible task since all of Israel were now following Baal, God usurped these doubts with this statement:
I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.
Seven thousand against what? The whole population of a nation, plus? Yes, of course. Try this. With a candle and a lighter close yourself in a pitch black room. In the center of that room sit upon a chair. Then light the candle. What happens? The complete darkness is no more. Yes, there are corners where maybe the light of one candle does not reach. Try the experiment again with several friends all sitting in the center of the room. Light the candles. There is far less areas of the room where the combined light cannot reach. There it is – the power of God’s Light.
We are told to Light our (inner) candle and what? Place it under a bushel, hiding it? No. We are told to place it upon the hill (of our mind, body and soul) where it can diffuse the darkness around us.
God is whispering within in you right now. He desires your return to Him. He wants to cleanse not only this nation, but His entire creation of the prevalent evil that lurks among us. Should we do so with violence? To that I can only answer – we each have a task in all of this cleansing of evil. For some of us, it is simply being a prayer warrior. For some, it is talking to and encouraging others. For others it is writing ( 🙂 ). We each have our part to play. We are hearing stories of child torture and child sacrifice in our own time and want to string up the perpetrators of such vile evil. This is a normal reaction to evil. Some feel the need to justify it by claiming it to be “righteous anger”. Maybe. But it is more than that – it is human, and therefore influenced by an inner voice of God and a perfectly legitimate reaction. In short, it is simply human. But let those who are properly trained in the art of war handle any violence necessary to take down Baal and his minions. And let us focus on what we can do within the limits of our talents and knowledge.
Where is God? He is closer than you think – closer than you can imagine. He can be no closer to you, right now, than He has ever been to even the least of His creation across the millennia. Furthermore, it it impossible for Him to abandon you, those who seek Him and strive to live according to His Will. It is our Will that can, and often does, abandon Him. Regardless, He waits for our return and lauds our expressed love for Him.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33