Where is God?

Sometimes we wonder where God is. The situation we are in is too desperate or too

mundane and we cannot see Him at all. Somewhere deep within us we know that we need

Him - we desire to live so closely with Him that we forget where we end and He begins. But

the reality is that most of our days are spent on autopilot, running along from one thing to the

next.

“And every day, the world will drag you by the hand, yelling, “This is important! And this is

important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!” And each

day, it’s up to you to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, “No. This is what’s

important.” - Iaian Thomas

This age-old question of where God is started to do its rounds in my heart recently again

when suddenly I saw: He is everywhere.

It’s in the moment when our whispered prayers are interrupted by a bee flying into

the room. And then we remember the word we received about honey.

It’s in the moment when a little kid runs up to me with a picture they colored for me

and it’s the same theme that I read about in the Bible.

It’s in the moment when I notice the lyrics of the music that’s playing. It’s been there

all along - and then it’s Him singing the words that I finally hear.

It’s in the moment when the barista asks me how I’m doing when I’m having a bad

day and it gives me the space to slow down. And then it’s Him asking me.

It’s in the moment when my eyes focus on a bird sitting on a branch outside my

window. I see it move its head and look straight at me too. And I feel a part of

creation.

It’s in the moment when I page through my diary from the past month and see a

strong theme emerge. This month was for loving people; this month was one for

forming; this month was about learning to wait.

The thing that I saw when I noticed all these little moments is that He was writing a story all

along. There were moments where I was dancing to the beat of the music He was making,

when I moved with Him. Those were the highlights of my month too - the moments when

work just flowed and life seemed easy and light. Unfortunately, I also noticed the moments

when He was trying to do a salsa but I was stubbornly line-dancing, confused about why it’s

not working.

This is not the first time that I was seeing this, Him, so clearly. But humans are a forgetful

species and we need reminders. Apparently studies have shown that we forget

approximately 50% of new information we gather within one hour. So we swim around like

little goldfish in circles and spirals asking the same question: Where is He? Where did He

go? How am I supposed to live close to Him? We forget that (even in our moment of doubt)

we are swimming around in miracles, we are breathing grace, and we are held within the fish

tank of safety and protection.

The opposite of being in the moment is being distracted and being in a hurry. “To pay

attention, this is our endless and proper work.” Mary Oliver wrote this sentence that so

beautifully captures the idea of presencing and being in the moment. In One Thousand Gifts

Ann Voskamp wrote :“Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the

thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a

hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the

rushing.... Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it

away.”

Psalm 143:8 says “Remind me each morning of Your constant love…” We need to remind

ourselves to search for Him throughout our days.

In Matthew 28, we love to focus on the

Great Commission, but we miss the promise: “I will be with you always, yes, even until the

end of the age.”

He is right there where you are reading this right now too. He is in the

moment with you. His fingerprints are trailing over the contours of your life, inviting you to

notice.

Are you paying attention?