WHERE WAS GOD?
During the recent natural
disasters, I’ve heard many people asking questions about God: Where
was God when this was happening? Is God
judging us for our sins? Does God even
care? Does God involve Himself in the
affairs of men and nature? Does He even exist?
At the outset, let me say
that I hold no theological credentials, but I wholeheartedly believe that God
has given us His inspired book, the Bible, from which even a common person,
such as I, can learn much about His existence, His “disposition,” His way, and
His deeds.
When my husband faced his
first bout with life-threatening cancer at the age of forty-nine, this “storm”
drove us to search the Word of God for understanding and comfort. Now, after four of these cancer “storms” and
numerous health problems myself, we have discovered much, yet, indeed, many
questions are still unanswered.
Of crucial importance was the
discovery that God is immutable and unchangeable. (shadow
of turning, the same yesterday, today, and forever) This, in and of itself, is
very reassuring since it teaches us that the Creator will “act” in keeping with
His previous “behavior.” It would be
somewhat disconcerting to think that the All-Powerful—the One True and Living
God—was unpredictable. If such were the
case, we mortals would be left in the precarious dilemma of not knowing which of
our actions pleased Him and which did not.
Moreover, if God did not act in keeping with His Word, it is tenable
that, at times, some of our actions would be
acceptable to Him, while, at other times, the same actions would not!
It was also evident to us in
the scriptures that God is “interactive” with all of that which He
created. The notion of “deism,” (that
God exists but is passive and has not interacted with His creation since the
Creative Act) is not upheld by the scriptures.
While “natural laws” are clearly in place (having been created by Him),
the Bible teaches that God, in many instances, works through these natural laws
to make Himself known to His creation and, in rare moments, suspends those
natural laws for His Greater Purpose (the parting of the Red Sea being a
well-known example). However, the most
noteworthy proof that God interacts with His people was found in the virgin Birth
of a baby boy to a poor, young Hebrew couple in the ancient town of