Perhaps this is not the typical Happy-Thanksgiving-I'm-thankful-for-x-y-and-z blog post, but as I was thinking through some things today this came to mind.
Do you ever wonder Where is God? Yes, of course you do. Everyone does. And it always seems to happen in the most difficult of circumstances, doesn't it? For me personally, I tend to wonder where God is when I am struggling with a certain sin, and of course that sin always involves doubt of His goodness.
Perhaps right now you are, as I am, looking for a job and find it quite stressful. Run all over town, apply, apply, apply, apply. Then nothing. God, where are You?
Or maybe you struggle with anger. You read God's word and try to do your best until one day you just explode. God, why did You let me do that. Help me. Where are You?
Let's put this on a national scale: the U.S. strives so hard to take the engraving "IN GOD WE TRUST" off her coins and paper money. She pushes God out of the schools and takes down the Ten Commandments from as many public places as possible. Essentially, she says, "God, get out."
Then 9-11 happens.
Where is God?
I have a proposition. And this proposition is like none I have had for quite some time: God makes us feel distant from Him because He loves us. If thought through, we can almost immediately affirm this because God does all that He does because He loves us. He is "righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made" (Psalm 145:17, NIV84). "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28, NASB). He works all things for our good, not only His. Life does not have to be this way, but it is because God loves us.
But how can our distance from God be an act of love? Would it not be more loving for God to spare the lives of those in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon? Why does He allow us to sin? Wouldn't it be more kind of Him to deliver us from such evil? To answer these questions, let us imagine ourselves fully aware of God's presence after such adversities.
It's the 13th day you've been making a conscious effort to overcome your anger issues. Life has been stressful lately. Your spouse is irritable, your little kids are yelling and running around the house naked, you have piles of work to do. This morning is just too much, so when little Bobby hits Suzy, you yell at him. Immediately your conscience feels turned inside-out. You have a terrible feeling in your stomach. God, where are You? Why did You let me blow up? Why am I this way?
All of a sudden, you have an unusual experience of God's presence. It feels as though He's standing next to you. Then all of those things that we skim over in the Bible come to life: this is Yahweh whose name sounds like a whisper. He sits enthroned above angels who cover their faces and cry out, "Holy, holy, holy!" This is the God no man can see, the one who sustains your very existence - and that of the entire universe - by His word.
I don't know about you, but sometimes when I think about God I am filled with an awesome sense of terror. Why? Because we have no clue who He is. We say things like, "I love Jesus" and, "God is good" without even giving a second thought to what His very Name - His holy Name, YHWH - means or the kind of glory He dwells in or the holiness He is. "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31, NASB).
Terrifying.
Okay, okay, but what if He just delivers me from the sin altogether and I don't have to ask the question, Where are You?
What is the result of our asking? In asking, we receive. In seeking, we find. God makes His children so desperate for Him that they actually begin to pray and seek Him (amazing, isn't it?).
This is the entire reason God created this universe. He made us with a capacity to sin and fall into temptation. Of an infinite possibility of universes, He made this one because this one brings Him the most glory. In this universe He is able to display His grace to the full. He lavishes His love to the utmost. He works all things for our good, even the most evil things. (And is it not a more amazing thing that God works evil for our good than just good for our good?).
Glorious.
Magnificent.
Angels long to look into what we humans possess (1 Pet. 1:12) because they cannot possess it. They do not know what restoration is or what grace feels like. They have never fallen to their knees in appreciation for receiving God's mercy.
Yes, suffering is what makes this world the best of all worlds. It is far more glorious than a perfect world. "Why does God allow evil and things displease him in his story? So that they can be defeated" (N.D. Wilson).
The atheist may question and insult all he wants, but this is something the atheist (and most Christians even) has always missed: God allows suffering because He loves us.
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