Are you ever honest enough to ask that question? Do you have days, maybe months where you wonder if God has put you off to the side and is paying attention to someone or something else? I admit I did.
You know what? So did David- his chosen one. It reflects in many of the psalms he wrote. That didn’t mean he had lost faith. It was faith that made him cry out and ask “Where are you? I need you. What are you doing to help me?”
Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan, …(Psalm 55:1-2 ESV)
Then there are times when you can almost hear him say, “Oh. There you are. I just couldn’t see you through the stress.”
Often times it is in the very same psalm. But, no matter how distraught David starts out being, he usually ends on a high note, as if he has prayed it through to conclusion. It comes back around to realizing that God does care, He is there and He is the only true strength –
You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Psalm 56:8-11 ESV)
I wonder if that was the psalm our forefathers had in mind when they designed our coinage that says In God We Trust?
David realizes what the bumper sticker of the 1970’s used to say – If God is not in your life, guess who moved?
The word seek is used over 400 times in the Bible and is almost always referring to man seeking God. Why does He make us seek Him? I believe it is so we will be actively involved, which is the only way our faith really grows. He may stand and knock, but we have to be willing to listen for it, get up and open the door. Like David, whenever we wonder what God has done for us lately, all we need to do is take a breath. That’s one thing. Hear our heart beating. Two. See the sun come up again. Three. Open His Word and recall His past blessings. Four. Remember He delivered us from not only evil but eternal death itself. Five.
What has God done for me lately? Perhaps I need to flip it around and ask, What have I done for Him in thanksgiving for all He has done in the past? Just as David so often did.
I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. (Psalm 56:12-13 ESV)
It is a matter of focus. When I can see with faith eyes what He has already done for me, then it will become clearer what He is doing or me right now. Faith gives us the corrected vision to see what has been fuzzed and distorted by stress, hurt or disbelief. So close your eyes. Put on faith and look again. Ah, there God is – working in your life. He has been all along.
