Where is God?

In a recent conversation with my son we discussed finding God. He is starting his faith journey and asking some tough questions. One being, “how can I believe in God when I can’t even see Him?”. I have to admit, that was a tough one to answer.  He is a pre-teen so we are past the believing in Santa stage so I used that as an example, “you believed in Santa”, I said, “and you couldn’t see him. So how did you know that he existed?” His response was the obvious, “because on Christmas morning there were presents under the tree”. Because there was evidence of Santa, he could believe in the fictional character of Santa.  So why is it so hard to see the evidence of God in our every day lives?  All to often we are looking to the heavens waiting on the flashing sign, the “look here!” billboard, the grand gestures, and the letters signed by God in our inbox.  But we don’t have that.

Sometimes I wish for a moment I could be walking with the children of Israel and have God lead me with a cloud by day and a fire by night. Exodus 13:21 I don’t think I could handle all the grumbling and complaining that they did, but still, it would be neat to see God as evident in the sky as He was. Or maybe I could happen upon a burning bush and know that is God speaking to me. Exodus 3 But God does not come and talk to us in these ways any more.

As I was sharing with my son about seeing the evidence of God I was reminded of the story of Elijah at Mt. Horeb. 1Kings 19 Elijah had fled from Jezebel and was in hiding. He cried out to God saying, “Lord I have had enough, take my life”.  Then he laid down and slept. And angel woke him up and gave him food. He ate and went back to sleep again. Then again, the angel of the Lord woke up saying, “wake up and eat or the journey will be too much for you.” Then Elijah got up and ate and was strengthen and walked for 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God.

This is the part of the story that I really love. While he was in a cave of the mountain the Lord told Elijah to go out and stand because the Lord was about to pass by.  Then a great and mighty wind tore into the mountain and shattered rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then after the wind there was an earthquake, but again, the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a fire! But still, the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a whisper, a still small voice; and that, that was the voice of the Lord. God came in the still small voice, not in the earth shattering shouts. The Lord was revealed in the small things, not in the massive show, and still today; God is in the small things.

So how do you see God in the everyday? That was the question I presented to my son. Where is God? He didn’t know because he hasn’t looked. Yes, God is there! He is everywhere but you have to look for Him to see Him! No, he isn’t hidden. We are too conditioned to think that God will only be in the big and huge displays that we forget to see Him in the eyes of a child. We overlook the gentle breeze that cools us off on a hot summer day. We dismiss the smile of a stranger on a day that we are feeling down. We don’t see God, because we aren’t looking for him. Jeremiah 29:13 says it best, “when you search for me you will find me, when you search for me with all of your heart”.

So my question for you is, have you seen God today?  Are you looking for him?  Are you searching for Him with all of your heart?

I see Him, I pray you do too.