Where Is God When I Need Him?

 

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. (Psalm 139:7-12 ESV).

 

Through my five decades of pastoral ministry I have had several funerals of those who have taken their own life. I remember one in particular as the family, understandable devastated, asked many questions. The one most vivid in my memory was whether God with their daughter in the last moments of her life? Was she right with God when she died? She had been a Christian all her life. Was God’s hand still on her? David gives us a clear answer in our psalm today. People often ask, “Where is God during the darkest moments of our lives? Where is God when someone who loves the Lord reaches a point where it seems impossible to go on living?”

 

David gives an answer to that question. God is where we are, even in our darkest moments. If we have ever reached a point where we can’t find a trace of God, he is still there. And when we grope around in total darkness, even that darkness is not dark to God. God never leaves us even in our deepest hurts or in the darkest moments of our lives. The Lord Jesus comes into our darkness to assure us that he will never leave us or forsake us. And sometimes we can see God more clearly when we hurt the most. Carolyn Joyce Carty wrote a wonderful poem describing this truth, “Footprints in the Sand.” The story of the poem shows someone who dies and asks God where He was during the darkest times of trials and difficulty. God shows him his footprints in the sand of his journey. Noticing that there were only one set of footprints at those dark times there were even greater questions. Carty answers the doubt with:

 

"My son, my precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

 

The promise of Scripture is unfailing. God does not abandon us during any of the experiences of our lives. In fact, as I look back on some of those dark times in my own life, I now see clearly how it was then that God was most attentive and present. That is our God!