Where Has God Gone?

Where is God?

Does anyone know where He has gone? Because I'm pretty sure, looking around this world, that He must have packed up and left town. I mean, if He were here, He'd be doing something about this mess we've made, wouldn't He?

You know where I'm coming from? Sure you do. We've taken His world and turned it upside down and inside out. We're taking the wondrous creation He gave us, tearing it apart, and pasting it back together in total randomness, like Picasso gone wild. We're redefining the fundamental order and laws that He laid down. We've taken His place. We're playing God.

So where is He?

Doesn't He know?

Can't He see what's going on? Doesn't He care? Can He not see how dark and lonely this place has become for those who love Him, serve Him, believe Him? Is He so far removed that even when we say what He made was wrong, that He made a mistake, He does nothing? When what He called an abomination is accepted as the norm, has He decided to simply give up and go home?

Doesn't He know how hard this is? Doesn't He know that my children have to live in this world, wade through the filth and garbage piling up in the streets? Does He even recognize how far we've fallen, or where we are headed? Can He see it? Does it matter to Him?

I know where God is.

God is here. God is watching. And He cares. Oh, He cares a lot!

He has a plan.

One day, when wickedness has reached its fullness, the world will see and know. On that day, when the skies darken with His wrath, when the Horsemen are turned loose and fire rains from heaven, all will know. When the earth trembles, the oceans boil, and men hid themselves in futility from His face, they will understand.

God knows. God cares. God is here.

God hasn't gone anywhere.

No matter how hard the world tries, they can't run God off. They cannot take from Him what is rightfully His. As they did with His Son they now do with His creation, but now as then, they know not what they do. Then, Jesus begged His Father to forgive them. Now, creation begs her Father to rid her of the decay of sin.

When judgment comes, there will be mercy no more. Hell hath no fury compared to the God who created it.

God isn't gone. He's waiting, building His wrath. Every insult, every deed, every sin wracks up and one day, one day soon, they will be piled up to heaven. That's when God will show His hand. As in the days of Noah, they will be eating and drinking, partying it up to the very end. When the flood of His wrath comes, there'll be no hiding.

Because God is here. Watching. Knowing. Patiently waiting for the day He has chosen. To act. To judge. To pour out His wrath.

God hasn't gone anywhere. God isn't going anywhere. One day, one day soon, He's going to take back what belongs to Him.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come!

Who Am I?

Who am I?

A question we all ask ourselves. It ranks right up there with, "Why am I here?" and "What am I supposed to do?". It's not a question of identity as much as a question of purpose.

How we answer this question is important, and perhaps not as obvious as it may at first appear. For some, the answer is muddled and unclear, leading to confusion, misdirection, and a true identity crisis. For others, the answer they come up with is disappointing, leading to depression, self abuse, and a failure to live the productive life they are capable of.

Most of us have at least an idea of who we are, but I doubt many of us understand all of who we are. That's because we only see ourselves from our point of view.

The full picture of who we are is seen not only through our eyes, but the eyes of others as well.

Through the eyes of my family.

To my family I am a husband, a father, a son, a grandson, and a brother. I am an uncle, a nephew, and a cousin. Of course, as genealogy goes, I have many other relationships in my family, but you get my point. Depending on which family member you ask, who I am will vary according to where I fall in the family tree compared to them.

My identity, therefore, depends not only on where I stand, but where others stand as well. The view looks a whole lot different from over there, than it does right here. Who I am to my mother is much different than who I am to my wife, even though I am the same.

Do you get my point? I'm not only who I see me as; I'm also who others see me to be. That is a very, very important thought to keep in mind.

Through the eyes of my friends. 

To some, I am one who comes to them for advice. To others, I am someone sought after for the same reason. Most often, those roles switch back and forth, depending on the question at hand. To some of my friends I am a soccer or softball player. To others I am a hunter and fisherman. Some see me as bold, while compared to others I am not.

Many of my friends are mutual friends with my wife, and they see us as a couple. Others hardly know my better half, if at all. Most of my friends know a little bit about me, but only a few know much more than that, and fewer still know me to any significant depth. Who I am to them is what they know about me.

Through the eyes of God.

I could go on and on about how I look to different people depending on my relationship to them and what they know about me, but I think you get my point. We look different to different people based on how they see us.

God, on the other hand, knows who we truly are.

This part of our identity, who we are in the eyes of God, is the most important of all. This determines our eternal destiny, and there is nothing more important than that.

Amazingly, who we are in God's eyes isn't about where we've been or what we've done. If that was the case, we'd all be seen by Him as sinners unworthy of His presence. God doesn't look at us that way, though.

God sees us as either His children, or lost orphans He wants to claim. You see, we are either His children because we have Jesus Christ as our Savior, and are therefore part of His family, or we are spiritually fatherless. If the latter, God desires nothing more than for us to accept His invitation to be His son or daughter.

No matter who I am to anyone else, to God I am His child.

As long as I know that, I know exactly who I am.

My God Is God

He has many names.

Jehovah, the great I AM WHO I AM.
Elohim, Power and Strength.
Adonai, Master and Lord.
El-Shaddai, God Almighty.
Jehovah-jireh, Provider.

Father. Creator. Judge. Holy One. Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End. Almighty God. Fortress. Ancient of Days. Consuming Fire. King. Living God. Maker. Majesty. Mercy. Rock. Rose of Sharon. Strength. The One. Wonderful.

Jesus. Bread of Life. Son of God. Son of Man. Cornerstone. Foundation. Faithful and True. Savior. Shepherd. Servant. Christ. Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Great High Priest. Messiah. Deliverer. The Lamb.  Emmanuel. Friend. Hope. Life. Light. Living Stone. Living Water. Lord of All. Prince of Peace. Redeemer. Righteous One. Word of God.

Spirit. Counselor. Guide. Holy Ghost. Spirit of Truth. Helper.

Trinity. Triune. Three-In-One. God.


And many more.

My God is so great I cannot begin to define Him, understand Him, or otherwise put Him in a box and say, "This is my God." His attributes are without number, His nature unfathomable. He is beyond comparing to anything known to lowly man or highest angel. He is God.

When I see Him, I will know Him. There is none other like Him, none who can impersonate or replace Him. His power is beyond description, His glory fills the heavens. Heaven and earth tremble at His name. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is God.

My God is God.

I do not fully understand what that means, but I know this: He alone is worthy of worship, honor, and praise. I cannot know Him fully, but I know enough to fear Him, love Him, serve Him, desire Him.

He is the One True God.

I believe in Him. I serve Him. In Him, and Him alone, do I trust.

My God Is Better

People worship some strange gods.

Some gods are angry, mean, and deceitful, like the ancient Greek gods. Others are powerful but flawed, basically just humans with super powers. People follow gods who are distant, detached, and unreachable. Selfish. Self absorbed. Cruel. Evil.

My God isn't like that.

My God is better.

My God cares.

He cares so much, in fact, that He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not die for their sins, but have eternal life (John 3:16). He cares so much that He keeps track of even the hairs on my head (Matthew 10:30). He cares so much that He listens when I talk to Him. Every. Single. Time.

God cares so much for us that nothing is too great, or too small, for us to take it to Him knowing that He can, and will, give us every good thing. So great is His care that when we stumble, He lifts us gently to our feet like the children we are. He cares so much that He disciplines us so that we will learn. He weeps. He rejoices. He jealously protects.

My God cares. A lot.

My God gives.

My God provides all things. It is said in scientific circles that our sun gives us life. Well, my God created the sun, and gave it to us. He gives us food and water, clothing and shelter. He provides comfort to the downcast heart, strength to the weary, courage to the faint of heart. He gives even when we do not deserve.

Everything we have is from God, and we have everything we need. My God provides richly and abundantly. Not because He must, but because that is His heart.

My God is a giver.

My God is close.

God does not remain secluded on some unreachable mountain top, nor locked away in some unapproachable fortress. My God is here, with me, right now. My Father lives in heaven, but His presence is everywhere. Even more, my God has chosen, of His own free will, to dwell not only with me, but within me. His Spirit has taken up residence side by side with mine.

That's close.

My God is better in every way.

My God is more powerful than any other. My God is more caring, loving, giving, and personal than any other. There is no god greater than mine, because my God is the only true God.

My God is the best.

My God Is Bigger

This is a picture of a pulsar.

A pulsar is a type of a neutron star, which is the incredibly dense core of a star that is left over after a supernova. A supernova, of course, is the explosion that takes place when the most massive stars in the universe die. Sometimes they form black holes. Sometimes they form neutron stars.

These are massively powerful objects which we are just beginning to understand, and then poorly. Their forces can only be described by mathematical equations that cover pages and take a PhD to comprehend. They are incredible.

They are puny compared to God.

God created the stars.

There are an estimated 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. Each galaxy has an estimated average 100,000,000,000 stars. Multiply those together, and you get the estimated number of stars in the universe. And that's actually an old number--it grows as telescope technology improves.

God created every one of them, and knows them by name! (Psalm 147:4). He keeps track of their coming and going. More than that, He controls their coming and going. Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus, who is God, sustains all things. He sustains the stars--He's the force behind their force!

That's power.

My God is bigger.

I don't care what you want to compare Him to, my God is bigger. He's more powerful, more awesome, more incredible than anything, because He made everything! Not only that, but He controls everything and sustains it. Without God, there would be no forces of nature. There would be no energy. Without His sustaining power, there would be nothing.

You might think such a massively powerful God would be distant and impersonal, but nothing could be further from the truth. Matthew 10:30 tells us that God is so personal, and cares for us so much, that even the hairs on our heads are numbered.

My God sustains the universe, and still keeps track of every detail of the insignificant speck that is me.

That's love.

And you think God can't take care of your problems?

A supernova is the most powerful event we know of. The generated force of the explosion is mind blowing--astronomers estimate that an observed supernova exploded with a luminosity (brightness) that was 600 billion times brighter than our sun! To put it another way, the energy emitted in about the minute and a half a supernova lasts exceeds the amount of energy the sun will release in its 10 billion year lifetime. 

Here's the wild part. Because of the number of stars (see above), a supernova probably occurs somewhere in the universe about once every second. That means, if a supernova last 100 seconds, there are about a 100 supernovae going off right now. Take a moment and consider the amount of energy, the raw power we are talking about.

God's in control of that.

How big are your problems again?

I've tried to give you an idea of the power of God, and certainly have only scratched the surface. But considering God controls and sustains these incredible forces, and yet still keeps track of every hair on your head, how big are your problems compared to His ability to deal with them?

The next time you think a problem is too big for God, maybe thinking about the supernova will put things in perspective. And the next time you don't think God cares enough about you to do something, answer this one, simple question:

Do you know how many hairs are on your own head?

Practice Makes . . . Good

It takes a lot of practice to be good.

This is a target from my daughter's state archery tournament. You can see that both she and her shooting partner have done pretty well. They scored 5 tens, 4 nines, and an eight on that round. That's pretty darn good shooting.

But it's not perfect.

I don't know about the other shooter, but I know how much my daughter practiced to accomplish this. A lot of hours. A lot of tears. Sore fingers. Bruised forearms. Failure, adjustment, success, and more failure preceded this target. Hours and hours of work, study, and effort.

And still, it's good, but not perfect.

It seems simple enough.

Archery, that is. You find an aiming point that puts you in the ten-ring and aim at the same spot each time. Don't twist the bow. Anchor. Smooth release. Follow through. Repeat.

Once you learn your technique and find your aiming point, you should be able to hit the ten every time. Or so it seems.

But it's not that simple.

I know. I've tried. I've hit the ten. Hit it several times, in fact. Even a few in a row. But I've never scored a perfect 50 in one round, let alone all 6 rounds of a competition. Even the great archers, the ones who win National and even World level competitions don't shoot a perfect 300 every time, very often, or even ever.

Despite hundreds, even thousands of hours of practice, the best are not perfect.

Life is a lot like that.

We all have a lot of practice at life, right? I mean, I practice every day. My ten-ring is the purpose of life: Love God, love my neighbors. My bow is the life God has given me. My arrows are what I say and do. My anchoring point is Jesus Christ. My release (letting go of the arrow) is my motivations.

Anchor, aim, release.

After I hit the ten a few times, I should be able to aim at the same point and do it over and over. I've practiced so many times it should be more reflex than conscious thought, more "muscle-memory" than intentional action. It should be easy.

Should be.

But it isn't.

Sometimes I don't only miss the ten, I miss the whole darn target! I can't blame the environment or my equipment. It's me. I get distracted. I take my eye off the target. I twist my bow of life or grip it too tightly. I don't anchor correctly on Jesus. I flub my release, the motivations for what I do, and the arrows of my words and actions fly all wonky. I make a thousand little mistakes, and the occasional big one.

That means I hit a nine instead of ten. Or an eight. On a bad day, I'll shoot a no-score, an arrow that doesn't even hit the target. Despite all the practice, which is every single day of my life.

You'd think I'd be getting better by now.

Practice makes good, but not perfect.

We'll never be perfect; not in this life, at least. No matter how long we live, no matter how many arrows we shoot, you're going to have the occasional "flier."

That's a hard reality for my daughter to accept, and me as well. It is, however, a life lesson for all of us. We're all going to mess up, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. In competition, and in life, how you handle that reality matters.

I tell my daughter, "One arrow at a time." Don't get over-confident because your last one was a ten. Don't lose faith because you shot a five. Focus on the fundamentals, and do your very best with every arrow you have.

That's advice that I've been trying to follow myself. When things are going well, don't think that means I've got this all figured out. When I screw up, don't give up. Try again. Do your best.

Anchor, aim, release. Shoot for ten every time.

Practice will never make us perfect, but if we try each day, we'll be better than we were before.
  

The Meaning Of Life

Greater minds than I have tackled this one.

We've all asked this question, in one form or another. Why am I here? What am I supposed to be doing? What's the point? What on earth am I here for? This question has many forms, but they're all the same. What is our purpose for existing?

According to Plato, the meaning of life is attaining the highest form of knowledge. His pupil Aristotle disagreed, and came to the conclusion that the purpose of life is attaining happiness. Epicurus thought the meaning of life was pleasure, while Existentialists believe everyone creates their own purpose, and Nihilists believe there is no meaning at all.

So who's right?

I turn to the Bible for my answer.

There are many passages in the Bible to which we could turn to help us answer this question. While none will be so clear as to say, The meaning of life is . . . ., many do answer the question. And despite the fact that the Bible was written by around 40 different individuals over a period of a millennium and a half, each author was inspired to reach the same conclusion.

The meaning of life is God.

Someone once asked Jesus about the meaning of life.

The story is found in Matthew 22, verses 34-40. A Pharisee, an expert in Jewish law, asked Jesus, "Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"  For him, the Law represented God's will and purpose, so he was really asking, "According to the Law, what am I supposed to do?" In other words, what is the meaning of life.

Jesus' answer, known popularly as The Greatest Commandment, is simple. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

There it is. According to the source of all knowledge (God Himself), the meaning of life is to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Now what?

If the meaning of life is to love God and love our neighbor, how do we do it?

Honestly, I think we already know. Loving God means putting Him first, serving Him with everything we have and are.  Loving our neighbor as ourselves means treating Jane and Joe the same way I would treat me, or the way I would want to be treated. It's not hard to understand what those two rules mean.

It's the application that's difficult.

We have to put God first in all things. I wrote about idols yesterday. If we are going to apply the meaning of life to our lives, we have to get rid of the idols that are in God's rightful place, including ourselves. That kicks us down to the second rung of the hierarchy of importance. That step is hard enough. The next one is even harder.

Now we have to move over and make room, on the same level we are, for everyone else. As we learned in the story of the Good Samaritan, our neighbors are not just our friends and relatives; our neighbors include our enemies. And we have to love them. Just like we must love ourselves.

Love God. Love people. 

That's what it boils down to.

That wasn't so hard after all.