Where is God?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:10-11 NLT)

After King David, a person of whom the Lord said was “A man after my own heart,” sinned against God by committing adultery with one of his soldier’s wives, then having him murdered to cover up his sin, he wrote the words in the above verses in Psalm 51. Lots of things stand out to me in those verses, but for our purposes today, let me mention just one. The single most important factor that David feared most as a result of his sin was God removing His presence from him.

God’s presence meant everything to David, as it does to me and, I hope, to you, but to those who haven’t yet met Jesus, they simply don’t know what they’re missing. That’s why people ask the question: “Where is God?” But, as I hope to explain, that’s the wrong question.

God is omnipresent (ever-present) which means He’s like air. When we’re denied air, we soon lose our life; thus, for David and those of us who know Jesus, to be deprived of His presence is to be absent from life itself. So, the real question becomes: “Where are we (you and me)?” Are we so invested in ourselves we can’t “see” God or anyone else? Are we so inwardly focused regarding what’s going on in, to, and around us that the idea of God fades with our ability to see or care about anyone but ourselves?

And please understand, that’s the human problem. We didn’t become that way, we were born that way. That’s the problem central to all mankind. It’s called our carnal (Adamic) nature, and its bent is self-preservation, self-fulfillment, self-satisfaction, and self-advancement. We live in this little world of self that is reflected in and through virtually everything we say, think, or do, and the only “cure” for our self-centeredness is Jesus.

How so? Jesus died for the express purpose of “purchasing” (by His sacrifice on the Cross) our liberation from ourselves. And here’s the problem, the reason we can’t be free without Him: We can’t free ourselves from ourselves! It’s humanly impossible! It’s like jumping off a thirty-story building, landing on your head, and expecting it to end well.

The only way we could ever be free of the burden and penalty of our sin-nature was for the sinless, Son of God to choose to lay down His own life in our place.

We didn’t earn it or deserve it; it was solely God’s choice because He knew for us to ever have an opportunity to be with Him here on earth and forever in heaven, He had to pay the penalty for our sin. Heaven is perfect, like the Garden of Eden before the Fall, so, we had no hope of ever being able to go there without His help, because we couldn’t pay the penalty for our own sin.

The only way to rid ourselves of ourselves is to change our mind about ourselves. We must be willing to see “us” from a new, God-directed and God-centered perspective. We can’t see Him or ourselves without major heart “surgery.” We need our Creator to give us a new heart and a new mind capable of thinking His thoughts, hearing His voice, experiencing His presence, and seeing life – God’s, ours, and others – from a brand-new perspective.

That’s why the Bible speaks of that process as being “born again.” We can’t understand where to look for God or how to recognize His presence until we’re given a clean heart and clear conscience. Sin clouds our vision of Him, so, until our sin problem is dealt with, we’ll continue to stumble in the dark trying to find Him.

It’s not a human action, it’s a miraculous transaction brought about by the Spirit of God working in us. But here’s the kicker – we must want it! We have to ask God to do it with us and for us! Why is that so important? I’m glad you asked!

Let’s pick this up in tomorrow’s post.

Blessings, Ed 😊