Where is God....in the face of darkness?

Almost everyone, believer or not, turns to the God they cannot see in pain and grief and even anger at some time.  In our heart we are saying "It shouldn't be this hard' or 'What could I have possibly done to deserve this?' or 'I am at the very end of any strength I might have had.'

Crying out to God is not a sign of unbelief.  Go to the psalms and read the laments "How long, O Lord, how long?"  Crying out to God - even when you have no idea who or what or if God exists is fairly common.

The difference is this: believers turn to a God with whom they have a relationship while in the midst of some great darkness and when no explanation will make things right again.  They wrestle with God; sometimes for years. They turn towards a God who is hanging on a cross.  They demand an explanation; they demand some level of peace....they demand this from the God they know, not from a God they have imagined.  They demand this of a God whom they revere and who they unabashedly believe to be God.

They do this because they are people of hope, people of the resurrection.  When a believer runs into a brick wall she leans her head against it and says," Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy."  When he stands beside the graveside of his infant son he is looking straight into the darkness to find the God who has promised to be there.  She will still lose her house to foreclosure; he will grieve for years upon years...but they will not walk alone.  Trusting in God is hard work.

God is God of all things and at all times.  We like this when things are going well and are less sure the more things slide downhill.  Truth be told, we are often confounded by God when we look at the way things are turning out in this world.  God does not owe us an explanation.  God gave us the gift of Jesus, the incarnation of love for this world and when all else is darkness, it is to Jesus we cling.  The same Jesus who died on a cross.  The same Jesus who rose from the dead.  That Jesus.

Anything else you are clinging to is an idol - a false god - a god you have constructed in your own mind.  DIY is for Home Depot.  Don't go building yourself the god of your dreams only to wake up and find you've missed the God of the Universe.

A deep water God

We need a deep water God.

This is in contrast to a

.....bandaid God:  apply over wound and wait 5 days for healing

....bless and go God:  drive through a faith practice window [say prayer, reciting scripture, attending worship services] looking for a blessing but not wanting to get stuck in line for too long

....stained glass window God:  ancient, brittle, bright only in the sunlight, static, comforting

....facebook God:  pieced together from the bits and pieces of insight, inspiration and wisdom found (or not) in various facebook postings by friends

....divine Sugar Daddy God: who showers us with all those things we think we need and makes our lives better and better each day

....angry Aunt Sarah God:  who stands on the sidelines and lobs lightning bolts in our direction without any hope or expectation that good will come from it

....sentimental Touched by an Angel God: who flits about, giving a holy glow to everything and resolving life's worst dilemmas in 60 minutes or less.

I could go on.  We don't need one of these gods who are simply projections of our own desires.  We need a God who will be with us when the storms rage, the darkness falls, the shadows appear, the joy turns to weeping and when there are absolutely no answers at all.  A God who would go to the cross.  Jesus.