Where Is God In This?

Are we asking the right questions when bad things happen?

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

The Golden Globes Awards were recently in the world-famous place known as Hollywood Hills. In most award shows, whether Hollywood, Country Music, or anything else that involves someone giving an acceptance speech with millions of people watching, there's usually at least one celebrity, artist, musician, or producer who thanks God.

Halfway through the Golden Globes, Comedian Nikki Glaser presented a leaderboard of people that were thanked as these celebrities accepted their awards. Included were cast and crew, moms, and others. God got zero mentions.

Then the LA fires started, and some on YouTube called out the celebrities for "mocking God”, that the fires were a form of judgment on sinful Hollywood.

The devastation is palpable. Many blame a lack of resources and bureaucratic corruption. Some undoubtedly say that this either started by or at least aided by nature. God must be involved. So why would He let this happen? Even people who aren't Christians and supposedly don't believe in Him may use tragedies, natural and man-made, as reasons why there is no God and He is not good.

It leads people to say, "Where is God in this?"

This question highlights man's never-ending quest for answers from ancient times.

I'm sure you already know about the pyramids in Egypt and Central America, but there are pyramids worldwide. In China, India, and even the native american burial mounds in the United States have a pyramid-like shape.

Be it rituals, bloody sacrifices, or burials, they all had a common purpose-connecting humanity to the divine and getting answers for why things happened the way they did. Priests were appointed to stand in the gap between man and God.

The Ziggurat Of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia was one of those places. Each city had a ziggurat dedicated to the god of that city.

Babylon had one to the god Murdock.

Were the builders of these structures trying to create a man-made "mountain" to reach God? Were they trying to recreate Eden? The place where the bible states Adam walked with God in the cool of the day?

Photo by حسن on Unsplash

Man, in ancient times, turned to nature. People considered the sun, moon, stars and sometimes animals to be deities, mostly because they couldn't understand their world.

Fast forward to Ancient Greece, Rome and other oral and written traditions worldwide. The pantheons of gods seemed to be a never-ending soap opera. Man was trying to create powerful gods with more authority than them, but not necessarily more moral!

Essentially, gods that were like them?

Men are trying to define good and evil for themselves without God. This phrase is a loose definition of secular humanism and a very tight definition of what happened in the Garden of Eden and afterward.

Do we want a god that is like us? Seriously? Do you want a deity that condones and approves everything you do?

On the flip side, do you want a god that is so tyrannical, hot-tempered, and against humanity that he compels you to worship him, or else he'll smite you?

Both gods are WEAK, not strong. If you have a weak god, man, not the deity, is superior.

Here's the thing: what we think about God says a lot about what we believe about ourselves.

Most of the time, man tends to see himself as "god" until something outside of his control happens.

In that moment, the conclusion is God either does not exist or is not good.

But that phrase alone, I believe, is enough to reveal denial. It shows that there must be an arbiter of moral standards, truth and justice. Yet, in this time of suffering, tragedy, confusion, etc. we deny it because we don't understand it.

Consider this bible verse from Romans:

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Romans 1:20 NLT

Maybe the real question is not: Where Is God? But instead, Where are we?

One could sum up the story of the bible into that simple phrase.

What if there was a God who always wanted a relationship with humanity? And man's purpose was to trust His goodness and enjoy Him?

“The Scotch catechism says that man's chief end is 'to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.' But we shall then know that these are the same thing. Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” - C.S. Lewis

The story of the bible reveals this...

The God of Israel stood apart from the gods of ancient cultures as One who was powerful and full of love and mercy (Exodus 34:6-7). The Old Testament laws revealed His holiness and humanity's need for redemption. The New Testament introduces His Son, Jesus, who came to call people back into a relationship with God through repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Jesus, the perfect High Priest, stood in the gap between humanity and the God of Israel.

Ironically, His ministry took place during a time of Roman oppression when many were asking, 'Where is God?'

So, maybe this is a question we should consider when considering the concept of God. Not so much "Where is God?" but "Where am I?"

Here's one question for you:

If God stepped down from the heavens, looked at you, and asked the same question He asked Adam and Eve and so many others in the scriptures, "Where are you?"

What would you say?

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