God of Near and Far

Where is God when you need Him?

It's a question that many of us have asked at one time or another. Maybe you're asking it right now. At the toughest moments in our lives, we all want to know - is God here? Is He near us? Or is He in some far-off place in the "the heavens?" 

The answer is a painful...both. 

If we're being honest, I have felt this. At difficult points in my life, at traumatic moments, in seasons when it has felt like so much in hanging in the balance, I have both felt the presence of God as though His very breath was what was warming my heart and at the same time, understood Him to be so much bigger, so much greater, so much wiser, etc. as to be so far away. 

It can be frustrating, even for the believer, but I think it's meant to be a comfort. I think that if we take time to understand it, it is a tremendous comfort for us even in times of deepest trouble. 

Because what it means, what I have finally understood it to mean after decades of wrestling with it, is that God is both near enough to let me know that He loves me intimately, dearly, personally...and that He is big enough that He's also at that very moment being the God that I trust to be in charge of the whole of Creation. 

Jeremiah said that God is both near and far away (23:23). I have come to understand this means that He is both in my heart and on His throne.

And that is exactly where I need Him to be. 

In moments of greatest trouble, when darkness is setting in, when trauma is knocking at the door, when I'm wrestling not just with the world but with myself and sometimes, yes, even with my God, I need to know both that He loves me and that He is still God. I need to know that He's here and that He's also taking care of things. 

As I write that, I am thinking about perhaps being out to dinner with my Lord and something goes amiss. He folds His napkin and lays it tenderly on His plate, pats my hand, and says, "Excuse me a moment." Then, He goes somewhere in the restaurant and speaks to the manager and takes care of the situation, only to return and dine with me. 

The folded napkin reminds me He is still here, still with me; the way the problem gets resolved reminds me of His authority to take care of things. 

The folded grave clothes remind me that He is still here, still with me, resurrected from the grave. The small little glimpses of goodness and restoration and things being set right that I get on this side of heaven remind me that He is taking care of things. 

He is both in my heart and on His throne, and that's exactly where I need Him to be.