WHERE WERE YOU GOD

Many people have experienced tragedy. Some have lost their homes in fires,
Lost homes in hurricanes, earthquakes or tornadoes. Then there are those
Who, sadly, have lost everything. There are people who have lost relatives or friends to cancer and other threatening diseases. Some have lost jobs or have been faced with financial hardships. It seems natural for people to complain when faced with any tragedy such as these and often they find themselves asking the same questions that we might ask…

“Where were you God when we needed you the most?”

Where is God when we need Him? He is right with us. He is always with us!


"BUT WHY IF GOD IS SO GOOD?"

I have heard it asked often over the years, even asked the question myself a time or two. Why do I hurt? Why is there so much suffering in the world? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do the wicked prosper and the righteous take the beating? If God is so good and has the power to stop human suffering, why does he allow us to suffer? Where was GOD when I needed him the most?

Of all the questions that trouble the people of God, these have to be among the toughest. The connection between God’s goodness and our pain can be a mystery that can torment us for all of our lives if we let it.

When trying to find answers to these questions years ago, my husband had me turn to the book of Job. Have you considered my Servant Job…?
“He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). A lot of spiritual truth can be found in this simple statement.
“He knows the way that I take.... Job affirms his confidence that God sees him through his pain.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:24) It is not uncommon for believers to lose sight of God’s presence during the darkest times of our lives. We wonder where he is during the pain of a divorce, times of extreme abuse, the feeling of betrayal when a friend turns on us, or the heartbreak of watching someone we love die.
Remember even the Lord Jesus cried out form the cross... “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)


It is not wrong to feel that way and you have not sinned just because you have lost the sense of God’s presence. Job said, “I’ve got a case to present to the Lord if only I could find him; I've looked high and low for God but I can’t find him anywhere. I’ve searched every direction but he is nowhere to be found.” Then he rose to a higher level of faith and declared, “I can’t see him but it doesn’t matter because I know he sees me.”


We need to remember spiritual growth is a journey, not a destination. Job recognized the fact that it was God allowing his sufferings. You may say it was all Satan's doing, but that is not the whole truth. It was God who brought up Job’s name in the first place when he said, “Have you considered my servant Job?” (Job 1:8) It was God who set the limits on how far Satan could go in tormenting Job. Satan may have started it, but God set the rules for the game. “Go ahead; do what you want with all that is his. Just don’t hurt him.”(Job 1:12). In Job 2:6 God tells Satan you can do what you want to Job but do not kill him. Even after being stricken with terrible sores, Job did not curse God. He simply stated, “We take the good days from God; why not also the bad days.” (Job 2:10)


Suffering is part of God’s process to bring you to spiritual maturity. WE ALL HAVE TO DO SOME FURNACE TIME SOONER OR LATER. It is hot in there; it hurts; inside it feels like it will last forever and that you are all alone. None of us likes it but in the end those objections do not really matter.


Does God see us during times of suffering? In the Old Testament we meet a woman named Hagar. Hagar fled from the household of Abraham and Sarah. Pregnant and alone, she wandered in the barren desert. The Lord found her near a spring and told her to go back to Abraham and Sarah. He also told her to name her son Ishmael, which means “God hears,” because the Lord heard of her misery. She replied with one of the most wonderful statements in the Old Testament, “You are the God who sees me” (Genesis 16:13). You may not see him but he sees you. He knows everything you are going through.


What is God trying to do when he allows his children to go through hard trials and deep suffering? There are several answers to that question. First, God is trying to purge us of our sin and purify us of our inequity. Second, God uses suffering to test our faith. Will you still obey God in times of darkness? Will you serve God when things are not going your way? Will you hold onto the truth when you feel like giving up? Third, God uses times of difficulties to humble us. When things are going well, we tend to get a swelled ego (Big Head) because of our accomplishments but let the darkness fall and we are on our knees crying out to God. Fourth, God uses hard times to prepare us to minister to others. He comforts us so that we may comfort others. Finally, God uses hard times to prepare us for the understanding of his character. In the furnace we discover God’s goodness in a way we had never experienced it before.


I believe that hard times are a gift from God, a way to help us see how much we need a relationship with the Lord. Out of the pit of darkness we often learn of Gods great grace. We often forget of this until life falls apart around us.


Job said, “I will come forth as gold.” In the midst of all that Job was going through, and all the pain involved, he understood with eyes of faith that what God was doing had a purpose. All the terrible things that happened to him were not to destroy him but to improve him. When God wants to improve a person spiritually, he puts them through great trials.


Job compared it to the process of refining gold. To refine gold, you take raw chunks of gold (pieces of stone flecked with tiny pieces of gold) and put them into a fiery furnace. The heat causes the stone and dirt to melt and to rise to the top to be skimmed off so that all that is left is pure gold. It takes an enormous amount of heat but the end result is worth it. What you are left with is pure gold without any impurities.


In our own lives, the hotter the fire, the more the pain but the quicker the gold comes forth. The end result? You are both approved and improved by God. Approved: Found to be better; improved: made to be better.


For those among us who still find ourselves inside the furnace, the promise that it will not last forever may not help when the flames are still leaping up and around. I cannot promise when your trials will end; however, our God is always on time. You cannot rush him, but rest assured he is never late. When he deems the time appropriate, the fierce heat will dissipate and the gold of tested character will come forth in your life.


“My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. Job, a man in dire straits, far worse than most of us will ever know, boldly states: “I’m still serving the Lord. As bad as it has been nothing can make me turn away from God.” Wow! If we all had that much faith!


For those of us who survive great trials, it becomes easier to recognize that faith is a conscious moment-by-moment choice. It is not based on how we feel in any given moment. It is not an emotion. “I feel good today, things are going well.” Feeling-based faith will not cut it when life crashes in on us at every side. (It is only an emotion and lacks substance). Simply putting on a feel good “High” faith is easy but when thing’s are not going well, we lose that “High” as our faith is tested. In those moments of desperation, we have a choice to make. I am sure Job did not feel like following God after all tragedies he had endured but he did it anyway. Faith comes in many varieties, but in the end the faith that wins is the true faith that chooses to obey God in spite of our own circumstances.


A lot of us tend to forget that God is God and we are not. Until we understand this, we are going to be unhappy because we will end up fighting against God.


Let us pray:
Father God, I give you the right to set the agenda for my life moment by moment, day by day. Help me to understand the things that I do not. You can change the agenda any time you want without advanced warning. I pray, Father God that you will use me for your glory in a way that will please you and as you see fit! I surrender my agenda and control. Even when it makes me angry, I will allow you to be God. I am stepping out of the way! Thank-You, Lord. I give to you all the praise and Glory.... Amen!


If you find yourself in the fiery furnace, do not take matters into your own hands- that only makes matters worse. Escaping the furnace is an impossible task. Learn from this time; grow from it. God has wonderful things to teach you if you will only listen and learn. Grow from this experience. While you are in the furnace, you should seek a quiet heart, listen to God’s voice, look for God’s handiwork and stay faithful, no matter what.


If you are hurting today, you may feel like you cannot take anymore. My prayer for you is that you will hang on to the lord; turn to him; if you turn away, things can only get worse.
If God is good, why do we hurt? The truth of the matter is we can hurt with God or we can hurt without him. Do you trust God? If so, you can face the worst that life has to offer. Trust in him and know that he can be trusted to do what is right. Our God is faithful to keep every one of his promises. Nothing can happen to us except it first pass through the hands of a loving God. If your path is dark, keep on believing, light is soon to come. When your furnace time is over, you will come forth as gold!