Where Is God When I'm Lost

When I was in the first grade I was walking home from school on that first day, a walk of about a mile.  All of a sudden I stopped, began looking around and was frantic.  This six year old little boy was lost.  I didn't know what to do. 

And then I spotted it.  There sat a big old yellow tractor-trailer rig parked in an empty lot near our home.  Once I spotted that marker I knew that home was near, and I continued walking home.  As I topped the hill and rounded the last turn on Franklin Avenue, I was relieved to first spot Mrs. Gillespie’s house and then our house next door. 

On other occasions when I've gotten lost, a simple U-turn was all it took to find my way to the correct spot.

When I’m lost, I look for markers.  When I’m lost, sometimes I have to go back, closer to the beginning, and try again.

A few times in my lost-ness, I've had to call for help.  “Where are you?  I can’t find you?

And sometimes, when we are lost, we are tempted to question “Where Is God?”

Where Is God?

Great question. 

Where is God …?

  ~When people are beheaded

   ~When inflation sets in

    ~When leaders fail to lead

     ~When the economy falters

      ~When worlds collide

     ~When young children are abducted into sex-trade

    ~When our kids are addicted

   ~When bullies rear their ugly heads

  ~When we are out of peanut butter

Where is God?  That’s a question many ask on many occasions. 

My words are simple.  Here they are.

He is nearby. 

He is present in the filth, the degradation, the muck and mud of every human condition we could name. 

That is the answer, and it is a difficult answer with which to cope sometimes.  Consider this.

When God set up this whole ordered system on earth He gave Adam and Eve power over every living thing on earth.  They could do whatever they wanted except eat from one certain tree – the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

In other words, if they partook of that tree, then they took on the power of choice, and choice is the one thing God has said He would never override in humanity.

We have the greatest power on earth – the power to choose, and we own it free and clear. 

Our opening premise was one about being lost when we can’t find our way.  Do you see the connection?  Perhaps we are lost because we've made so many poor choices, and the overgrown vines of those bad choices have obscured the way.  

Our choices have hidden the markers along the way.  God has put signs in place as guide posts, yet we have trampled on those.  We've ignored them.  We've used self-will as our motto, and ignored the more reasonable signs of responsibility and respect.

And what does God think of all of this?

He is saddened at our predicament.  Oh, He wants to help, and He will if asked.  But He will not override our power of choice. 

Psalm 50:15 says this:  “Call on me in the time of trouble and I will rescue you, and you will honor me.”

Another – Psalm 86:7:  “In the day of trouble I will call upon you God, and you will answer me.”

And this one:  “You shall call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry and He shall say “Here I am.”

~Isaiah 58:9

John 14:14 offers this:  “If you ask for anything in My Name, I will do it.”

Where is God when I am lost?  He’s one request away.  He is one shout-out away. 

His short answer is … “HERE I AM!”

Reach up, or out, or call, or shout, or pray, or whatever our preferred stance may be. 

Above all, God is standing nearby.  He’s awaiting your call.

P Michael Biggs

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