Where did He go??

Where did He go?

Ever have those days/weeks when it seems like God got up and left? He just disappeared? For a while you were feeling like the two of you were tracking together and then poof! He just vanished in thin air? Where did You go, God?

Then if you mention it to someone, they might come at you with, “Well, who moved?” What they are implying is that perhaps you were slacking off in your quiet time with God. Or possibly you have unconfessed sin in your life. Hmmmm…. While it could be that, and it’s worth checking that out, if you do a thorough soul searching and turn up empty in those two categories, there could be third possibility.

It’s just possible that God did move! “What?” you ask. “That’s not what I learned in Sunday School. The Bible says He will never leave us or forsake us. Right? Well, that is correct. But what if He hasn’t left, but just moved down the hallway into another room? You’re still in the same house, but He’s moved elsewhere so that you will follow Him?

To continue with the analogy of the house – suppose you are a brand new Christian. Pardon me for mentioning the smallest room in your house, but for the purposes of illustration, when you commit your life to Christ it is sort of like you have met God in the bathroom of your life. He cleans you up of sin and declares you are forgiven. You now have a clean white board in your soul and He wants to start writing His plans on it.

You are so happy with your new gift of eternal life that you are content to keep checking it out in the mirror and running the living water over your hands. It’s a great feeling to know that when you die, you will spend eternity in Heaven with God. You start receiving quick answers to your prayers. Life is good.

But a day comes when the light in the bathroom starts to fade a bit and you begin to sense that you are the only one in the room. The newness is wearing off and you are beginning to have to wait longer to see prayers answered. Did God go on vacation?

What has probably happened is that while you were checking out your new eternal ‘do’ in the mirror, God slipped out the door and quietly walked down the hallway. He’s still in your life. He hasn’t left you or forsaken you. But you’ll have to open the door and step out into the hallway to sense His presence again. It’s for your own good, of course. He has other rooms to show you, other places for you to explore and other people for you to meet. But those experiences will not happen if you stay in that small room.

Practically speaking what am I talking about, you ask. How do you know which way He went? Was it left or right down the hallway? Here’s what works for me. First, just being aware of what is happening helps me not to take it personally and keeps me from getting angry at God. His heart is always to bless us and grow us up to higher levels of maturity and closeness to Him. So I have to consciously let go of my comfort zone – the place that I have been occupying for the last few months or so – and work at accepting that I need to ‘pack my bags’ like Abraham and go wherever God is leading me. Like Abraham, I just need to obey and start moving forward however God leads me. I am not saying this is easy. But there are blessings and a deeper knowledge of Him just around the corner, if I don’t drag my feet or whine and complain that I really wish we could just keep things like they were.

With a sigh, I begin to embrace the idea that change is coming. Sometimes that takes a bit of time. I go through my checklist – am I still having a daily quiet time with God? Am I spending time thanking and praising Him first before laying my burdens at His feet? Did He ask me to do something a few weeks ago and I never quite got around to it? (That really motivates me to get it done.) Is there unforgiveness in my heart toward someone? You get the picture.

If I cannot find anything amiss, then I have to tell myself to continue reading His Word and seeking Him. He’s about to move me to a new level of spiritual maturity if I don’t give up or get impatient and angry. He is trusting me with His silence. Can I trust that He is still watching over me even when it seems like He’s on another continent? It forces me to a new level of faith and trust that my needs are still being met. It forces me to stand on His Word in the midst of what seems to be heavenly inactivity.
Here are some scriptures that I run back to in those trying times. Romans 8:28, Philippians 4:6, 13, 19, Psalm 46:10 and Jeremiah 33:3. You probably have your favorites, too. I remind myself that He HASN’T left me even when I don’t sense His presence. I try to spend more time just sitting in His presence or meditating on a scripture that is comforting. And I just wait.

Patience is not something that comes easily to most of us, however in the waiting my spiritual ‘antennae’ are being sensitized in new ways. God has something new to teach me, if I will just be still and continue to seek Him. He has new responsibilities, spiritual gifts, or experiences in faith that He wants to bring to me, but I have to be willing to go down the hall into the next room and continue to seek Him until I find Him again. It’s all for my own benefit and His. His heart is always for our good and for His kingdom purposes to be accomplished through us. He just does it His way, not ours. And that’s great because as He says in the Word, “Man’s wisdom is as foolishness to Him.” His ways are higher (and better) than ours.

So where is God right now in your life? In the same room or down the hall?