If you have travelled in Christian circles for any length of time you will have likely heard someone ask ‘Where is God is your situation?’ they may have even had you close your eyes and imagine yourself in a room and then to imagine where he is in it. You may have seen him close to you, or far, its even possible that you may not have seen him at all, and I want to tell you that no matter where you saw him, that’s okay.
Psalm 34:18 (NLT) “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.”
I can honestly say to you that some days I don’t ‘feel’ God’s presence. It’s at those times that I close my eyes and imagine where he is. No matter where I do (or do not) see him, I know he is near, because he promises he will never leave me or forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:8).
Recently God revealed something to me about those times I didn’t see or feel him. Now I could give you the footprints in the sand analogy here, but that isn’t what God showed me, instead he gave me the image of a child bawling their eyes out after being hurt, in their distress they are screaming for their mother, and in that same panic they fail to notice their mother take them in her arms, they fail to feel when they are cradled against her chest. Its not until the panic has calmed that they recognise that they are safe, and that the person they have been calling to is wrapped protectively around them.
I believe we are the same. When we are hurting, panicking, crying out to God, often we are too distressed to recognise that we are in God’s arms and he has drawn us out of harms way.
So, I encourage you, when the world around you seems to be crumbling, or even when it is boring, and you are doing all the things you can think of to connect with God, slow down and see where he is, and if you cannot see him, consider if possibly you may be safely in his arms.