Which Way Is God?
“But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I dot not find him. When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.” – Job 23:8-9
This passage in Job shows us there are times when, no matter which direction we go, we cannot find God or understand what He is doing. For some reason, there are times when He chooses to be elusive, evasive and evanescent. He answers to no one and refuses to ask permission to be Himself. Search for Him all you want, but if He chooses to hide Himself, there is no way to find Him.
At other times, no matter which way we go to get away from God, He is there (Ps. 139:7-10). Even in my darkest moments, I find God is with me, for darkness is as light to Him (Ps. 139: 12). Or, as Plato is quoted saying, “Light is the shadow of God.” God is everywhere, and there is no way to escape Him.
What challenges me is the fact that I cannot pin God down. If I try to flee from God, He pursues me. If I try to find Him, He remains hidden. However, if I humbly answer His gentle knock (Rev. 3:20), He is always available for a conversation over coffee and a donut. Or a bagel, if you prefer. (A kosher, fat-free, no animals harmed in the making of this product kind of bagel. We wouldn’t want to upset anyone).
It gives me hope to know that my continuing relationship with God does not reside in knowing where God is, but in being sure God knows where I am. And God always knows where I am even when I don’t, which was why He asked a hiding Adam, “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). As I understand it, God didn’t lose Adam; Adam lost Adam. God knew where Adam was even if Adam didn’t quite know where he was at or what was going on, for disorientation and a tendency to hide from God are the natural results of sin and disobedience. But I’ll save that thought for another article. The purpose of “finding” God is to complete the circle of God finding us.
Then I started to wonder: Is it really that hard to find God, or do I just have difficulty finding things about God I will agree with, areas I’ll align my life with and directives I’ll obey? Or, upon finding Him, will I not like the answer I’ll get when, like Job, I finally hear Him speak (see Job, chapters 38-41)?
Those are good questions, and I’ll admit that I don’t always like the answers. Furthermore, I’ll admit that I don’t have all the answers. Sometimes I find God in the most interesting places and situations, and sometimes Gods find me in the most interesting places and situations. Is God hard to find? According to Job (and some of my recent experiences), sometimes He is. Is God pursuing you and me? According to David and the entire New Testament, He is. However, in spite of who is after who, I know that the desired result is a life that is pure, unmixed with contradictions, valuable and eternal.
So, which way is God? To the skeptic He is nowhere, but to the faithful, He is everywhere. Perhaps this is a good time to just be still and know He is God (Psalm 46:10).
Thinking Out Loud 
“It gives me hope to know that my continuing relationship with God does not reside in knowing where God is, but in being sure God knows where I am.” That is a wonderful sentiment and very comforting! Thanks for the reminder that He is always with me, and I can always seek Him.
He seeks you and you seek Him. Its an eternal dance with the Savior of our souls.
Blessings,
Jim
I AM SOOOO MAD AT YOU>>>> This is what I read last night in a devotional…. BE STILL He says, but answers are what I need.
Grrrrrr…..
BBBBBBFHH>>>>>>
I like that. “Be still and know that I am God”. The power of just two words, “I AM” and the crowd fell back…
Thanks for this, Jim — helps put Job into perspective.
You made a good point in mentioning agreeing with God when we find it easy and turning away when it’s difficult. But, yes, God is there. We just have to keep quiet and listen, then accept, as hard as it is at times.
I would love to know where God is in relation to where I am. If he is my Heavenly Father, I need to know where he is so I can feel confident where ‘Dad’ is. If I had a relationship like this with my eathly father, I would not look at him again and would run away. As a child of the King, I want to feel a little more special and favoured. It is most of the time a very lonely journey as a Christian in a broken and disjointed family of God.
I am 45 now and I am tired of pretending that I am happy in church communites that don’t really care and just play the Christian game. The majority don’t want to do the Christian journey with each other, I feel.
I often sit back and look at the conecpt of Christianity. It’s a hard road of discontinuity and pot holes.
I rarely feel the Grace of God. I often feel the disgrace of God in my life.
I want to know who I am and I want to know who God is. I want to share a realtionship with God and his people. I want it to be robust and certain. I want the promises of God to be real and certain and for Him to stand by His Word. I want to feel favoured all the time by God. I want to feel that I am a child of the King. I want to have the power over satan knowing that God is my Father. I want to stand firm and SEE the power of God in my life. I don’t want to feel weak as a Christian nor do I want to belong to a weak Christian body. As Christians, we need to know who we are. We need God to show us who we are, that we are favoured and His. This is the relationship I want with my Heavenly Father. How good life would be if we could talk to God. Yes, it would be a real relationship, one that we could relate to. I wish it would happen.
David,
Last week I preached on Acts 10. In verse 34 Peter, after the vision of the many animals, says “I see very clearly that God shows no favoritism.” I said in my sermon, “God has no favorites because we are all His favorites.”
Every person on earth has equal access to God. He loves the world so much He gave His Son as a sacrifice to the whole world, not just the good and favorite children. I’m sorry you haven’t found a fellowship of Christians who want to live full out for God. I haven’t either. At least, not a full church like that. I find individuals who desire all of God and work to live in complete obedience to Him by loving others with the love God has shown to us. But I’ve never seen a whole church like that. I’ve seen churches that are more loving and grace-filled than others, and that is always a reflection of the leadership of the church. Churches, like children, take on the values of the parents (pastors). And about the time you think there aren’t any good churches, God will show you 7,000 who haven’t bent the knee to the world (1 Kings 19:18).
Sometimes the cure for our longing for God comes when we quit trying to meet our own felt needs and turn to meet the actual needs of others. You wrote, ” I want to feel favoured all the time by God. I want to feel that I am a child of the King. I want to have the power over satan knowing that God is my Father. I want to stand firm and SEE the power of God in my life.” When was the last time you helped someone who couldn’t help themselves or had no way of returning the favor? Find a ministry where you touch people’s lives by your presence, not your checkbook. Get involved in sharing the Good News of God’s love and compassion with others, and I know you’ll start to see just how special you already are in God’s eyes. When people get so focused on their own issues and desires that they stop meeting the basic needs of the poor who live all around them, it is then they start to feel sorry for themselves.
I’m praying for you.
Jim