Questions: Where are you God? Psalm 42

Have you ever asked the question, “Where are you God?”

Michael Hyatt, a successful business man & entrepreneur says, “That quite time you spend in the morning, reading God’s Word and praying, will calm you and prepare you for the day.”

Martin Luther, a famous German theologian who started the Reformation movement, said the busier he got the more time he had to spend in prayer. “I have so much to do today that I’m going to need to spend three hours in prayer in order to be able to get it all done.”

MLK Jr once said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”’

Prayer is important. But sometimes when we pray it seems like God is nowhere to be found.

Questions?

These days, if you have a question your first instinct may be to ask your device.

The other day I was riding in the truck with my daughter & she asked me, “Dad, What does Siri look like?” I said, “I don’t know. What do you think Siri looks like?” “I think she looks like mom.” “Is that because Mom looks smart?” “Yea.”

Some of you have a device called Google Home.

Now, instead of having to take out your phone, your iPad, your computer, and having to go through the extremely difficult task of typing your question into a search engine, you can simply speak & ask Google your question & Google will tell you.

Or you may have an Amazon Echo. If you have an Amazon Echo you just ask Alexa your questions.

But what about those questions that don’t have easy answers? What about those questions that, I guess you could google, but you & I both know you’re not going to find the answers you’re looking for. You can ask Alexa why bad things happen to good people, you can ask Google why your parents are getting a divorce, you can ask Siri why God feels like He’s a million miles away… but you’re not going to get the answers you’re looking for.

So where do you turn with those questions?

You Are Not Alone

Throughout history people like us, people who believed in God turned to God with life’s most difficult questions.

If you’re not a Christian, if you’re not a follower of Jesus I want to be honest with you & tell you… I don’t know where you turn with your questions. I don’t know where you go to find answers to those questions that don’t have easy answers.

But I’ll also tell you that you don’t have to believe in God to talk to God. You don’t have to have your faith all figured out to pray. You don’t have to be a follower of Jesus to take your questions before God in prayer. Scripture has always been clear that when you draw near to God, He will draw near to you… and there are no prerequisites for that to happen. We believe that if you turn to God He will turn to you.

But if you are a believer in Jesus, if you are someone who has given your life to God… this may be a real struggle for you. What happens when you believe in God but you find it hard to pray? What happens when you have faith in God but when you pray you feel like no one is listening? What happens when you feel like you need God, you’re desperate for God, desperate for God’s help, but it seems like no one is there. Like your prayers hit the ceiling. Like you’re trying to get God’s attention but no matter what, things just aren’t working out like you thought they would.

Where are you God?

Have you ever wondered, where are you God?

The good news is that if you’ve ever asked that question & felt like God was far away, you are not alone. Since the days before Jesus, those who have known God & served God have often wondered, “Where in the world is God?”

This was true when Jesus walked the planet. After the death of their brother Lazarus, Mary & Martha both asked Jesus — Where were you? Where were you when we needed you most? Where was God when our brother was dying?

And this has been true since the days of Jesus as well. Paul, experiencing something he described as a thorn in the flesh, prayed to God for help but no answer came. This is Paul, who actually saw Jesus when He appeared to him on the road to Damascus, who planted churches, who had the ability to heal people from their sickness, but he was unable to heal himself from whatever was troubling him & when he prayed to God there was no answer, no relief from his suffering.

And this has been true for hundreds of years for those who believe in God & follow Jesus. So we can read the words of those who have come before us who where dedicated followers of Jesus who wondered, “Where is God when I pray?”

The Dark Night

They call it the “Dark Night of the Soul.” They call it the “Prayer of the Forsaken.” They call it the “Cloud of Unknowing.” They call it “Deus Absconditus,” the God who is hidden. It has different names & has been experienced by people of faith throughout the centuries. It’s not true absence, it’s not that God is actually gone, but rather a profound sense of absence.

And maybe you’ve experienced this too. If you’ve been a follower of Jesus for any length of time, if you’ve spent any length of time in prayer, you’ve probably experienced this distance, this lack of presence, this feeling like when you pray, no one is there, no one is listening, no one cares. So you pray, “God, are you there?”

If you’ve ever felt this way, you are not alone.

In the psalms we find the prayers of people just like you & me. And the psalms ask this exact same question.

So we come to a psalm like psalm 42 & we read these words…

PSALM 42

1 As the deer longs for streams of water,
so I long for you, O God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God.
When can I go and stand before him?
3 Day and night I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”

This is the prayer of someone for whom God feels distant. You don’t long for something you have. You’re not thirsty when you’ve had plenty to drink. So the person writing these words, these words that so many of us identify with today, is desperate for hope, desperate for help & is crying out to God but God is no where to be found.

What’s so amazing to me about this person is that even though God is nowhere to be found, even thought they’re crying out to God & making it known publicly that God is on the way to help to the point that his enemies, those coming against him are taunting him saying, “Where is this God of yours?” The person praying this prayer doesn’t for one moment loose faith in the person of God even though he’s not experiencing the presence of God.

And it makes me wonder, how often do we loose our way or loose our faith when God seems distant?

Feeling Far from God

But the writer of this psalm doesn’t do that. He doesn’t treat God like a genie in a bottle there to respond to his every command. His belief in the person of God isn’t dependent on his immediate sense of the presence of God.

So he prays..

4 My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a great procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a great celebration!

There was a time when God felt incredibly near. There was a mountain top experience when it seemed as if God was so close he could reach out & touch him.

And we have to be honest about this, if you are a follower of Jesus & if you walk with God, there will be times when God feels so close you can reach out & touch him but there will also be times when God feels so far away you wonder where He could be.

Just ask David or Moses. Ask Elijah, or Peter or Paul. Every person we hold up as a hero of faith at one time FELT far from God.

5 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and 6 my God!

Sing the Chorus

Like every great song, this song has a chorus. And I want you to listen to the chorus of this song.

This song that the people of God would sing on the way to the temple. This song that parents & grandparents would teach their children & their grandchildren. That when I am discouraged, when my heart is sad… I will put my hope in God, I will praise Him again my Savior & my God!

Now I am deeply discouraged,
but I will remember you—
even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,
from the land of Mount Mizar.
7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas
as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.

This is the hardest part, isn’t it? When life is hard, when things are not working out, when things are difficult & everything that could go wrong does go wrong… and the hardest part is just not knowing. Not knowing where God is. Not knowing how this is going to work out.

Realizing you have no control & you’ve got more questions than answers & if you just knew, if you just knew how this would work out you might be ok. But you don’t know. And the not knowing is killing you. God’s absence is painful & you feel like you’re drowning as the waves sweep over you.

8 But each day the Lord pours his unfailing love upon me,
and through each night I sing his songs,
praying to God who gives me life.

Facts over Feelings

So in the middle of life’s most difficult moments we come back to what we KNOW is true, we come back to faith, we decide & declare who is on the throne of of our lives & we lean not on our feelings, but on the facts. We turn to the fact that God is who He says He is, He is faithful & kind. He is with us & for us & He will never, ever leave us.

So in the middle of the mess we return to worship. Because worship will carry us through. In worship we decide & declare what we know is true. In worship we praise God for who He is, not just all He has done. Be careful not to withdraw your worship just because God doesn’t seem to be present when you pray.

If you withdraw your worship when God doesn’t answer, what does that say about who is really the god of your life?

God is not under your command. God is not a genie in a bottle waiting to grant your three wishes. In worship we declare that we love God for who He is more than for the gifts He brings. And when God seems distant the greatest thing we learn & remember is that God is not under our control. We cannot manage God. God doesn’t jump when we say, “Jump.”

When God does not feel near yet we remain near in prayer, remain in waiting, remain in worship, we declare to God that our hope is in Him, in His timing, in His will. We proclaim that God sees what we cannot see. That God knows what we cannot know. That our hope is in an eternal God who is with us & for us. That there is a God & that I am not Him!

Even in our deepest anguish, we can declare this. Even, when like the psalmist we say…

9 “O God my rock,” I cry,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I wander around in grief,
oppressed by my enemies?”
10 Their taunts break my bones.
They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?

Even then we can say…

I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!
Psalm 42.1-11

We say, I will praise God even in His perceived absence. I will praise God for who He is, not just for what He’s done. I love the giver of the gift more than the gift itself. My faith is not a “What have you done for me lately?” faith. My faith is an unshakable faith in my Savior & my God.

Even when God seems far away, He’s always near.

I want you to know, I don’t have an answer to this question. I don’t know why sometimes God seems far away. But I know that this is true, even when God feels far away, He is always near.

So if you’re asking,” Where are you God?” Let me encourage you… Don’t give up, stay in the presence of God.

Because time spent in prayer is time spent in the presence of God. And its in the presence of God, even when He feels far away, that you will find the help & healing you need.

There is simply no substitute for time spent in prayer. So even when God feels not near, stay near.

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