Where

Is God?

Jeannette took this picture of me “praying” at the Atlantic Ocean on May 18, 2018. It was over a year before her diagnosis of metastasized pancreatic cancer. I would later ask…

Where is God?

Have you ever found yourself asking that question? If so, maybe this five minute message is for you.

Reading through the Bible…I Kings 8-9/Luke 21:1-19

Before the entire congregation of Israel, Solomon took a position before the Altar, spread his hands out before heaven, and prayed…(I Kings 8:22)

Solomon seems to think God is up. He stretches out his hands towards the שָׁמַיִם shamayim: the Heaven(s) or sky

What’s up with looking up? Why does Solomon stretch his hands up, when he is standing right in front of the altar? Why not stretch his hands out? Isn’t the whole purpose of building Solomon’s temple to get God to actually move into our neighborhood (I Kings 8:27)?

Yes…and No.

Solomon knows that God is present everywhere. Undoubtedly his father David makes it clear to his son that there is nowhere that he can go to escape God’s presence (Psalm 139:7)

What Solomon seeks, maybe what we all seek, is the manifest presence of God.

God has told us that he lives in the dark
where no one can see him;
I’ve built this splendid Temple, O God,
to mark your invisible presence forever. (I Kings 8:12)

Solomon wants, Solomon needs, God to mark God’s invisible presence forever.

Solomon wants to know, if God is manifestly present enough to see and hear him. Can an invisible and inaudible God still respond to his prayers.

There are two heavens in the Bible. There are the heavens God creates (Genesis 1:1) These are the heavens that we can see with unaided, or in our case with telescope aided, eyes. Then, there is the God-inhabited heaven that we cannot see. The place of God’s invisible presence.

If we can’t see or hear God in Heaven…can God see and hear us from heaven on earth?

Writing…

Facing the news each day, we may want to throw up our hands. We may feel intense frustration, despair, or helplessness at situations that seem uncontrollable. We may want to give up, admit defeat, or just show our shock and disapproval because we don’t believe we can fix our world.

Solomon suggests that instead of throwing up our hands, we lift them up. Better yet, Solomon suggests that we lift up our voices.

Does God hear us? Does God see us? Solomon suggests that we will never know for sure until we ask.

Pay attention to these my prayers, both intercessory and personal, O God, my God. Listen to my prayers, energetic and devout, that I’m setting before you right now. Keep your eyes open to this Temple night and day, this place of which you said, “My Name will be honored there,” and listen to the prayers that I pray at this place.

Building…

I have intercessory questions about what is happening to our country. I have personal queries about the death of my father, wife and last brother in the past few years.

Where was God? Where is God?

I realize, however, that I won’t know until I lift up my hands to heaven and ask God. So, let me conclude by sharing a story.

As a kid growing up in the summer in a friendly neighborhood, my folks would never know exactly where I was, come dinner time. Was I out playing baseball at the field across the street? Maybe I was jumping on a neighbor's’ in-ground trampoline two doors away? They wouldn’t know until they yelled my name, first out the front door, then out the back.

Where is Jonathan? They couldn’t tell until they yelled.

So, tonight at midnight, I’m going to yell. Actually I’m just going to pray. I will walk out my front door and over to the prayer room at BLVD Church.

I have the honor of beginning a May month of prayer of 24-7 prayer shared by twenty six different churches in twenty six different locations throughout Holland, MI.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wnvdn7kbHz324U1zZdgOQjS7EFnW98rL1WAq4tDdkWw/edit?usp=sharing

Where is God for us personally? Where might God be manifestly present nationally? We won’t know until we ask.