If You’re Wondering Where God Is…

We have definitely “lost our first love”

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Someone asked me, “Where is God in all this COVID pandemic, global/national turmoil, financial chaos, and overall anxiety?”

After thinking about that for maybe five seconds (!!), I started listing the reasons why, if I were The Almighty, I might decide to sit this one out.

Of course, I’m being facetious. Through it all, God is still actively and sovereignly engaged as He orchestrates all events for His ultimate purposes and glory. But the following sobering list should call our country, even the world, to our knees in repentance and forgiveness for how we’ve treated God over the years.

 

We’ve kicked God out of our schools by:

Promoting failed humanistic thought instead of teaching from the Source of absolute wisdom [James 1:5]

Advocating moral relativism instead of teaching God’s absolute truth [John 17:17]

Influencing students against God instead of introducing Him as the ultimate answer [Revelation 1:8

 

We’ve kicked God out of our government by:

Protecting sin through legislation instead of governing with righteousness and justice [Psalm 33:5]

Encouraging lawlessness instead of pursuing and maintaining God’s orderliness [1 Corinthians 14:3]

Championing wickedness in all forms instead of repenting and humbly seeking God [2 Chronicles 7:14]

 

We’ve kicked God out of Hollywood by:

Endorsing and embracing a degenerate agenda instead of solely supporting faith-based entertainment [Ezekiel 44:23]

Binge-watching raunchy television series instead of binge-reading God’s Word [Psalm 101:3]

Pursuing this world’s fashions and standards instead of modeling the world to come [Colossians 3:2]

 

We’ve kicked God out of our healthcare by:

Murdering the innocent unborn instead of protecting them as God’s precious heritage [Psalm 127:3]

Medicating every worry and anxiety instead of giving them entirely to God [1 Peter 5:7]

Panicking over every healthcare crisis instead of believing, “My times are in Your hand” [Psalm 31:15]

 

We’ve kicked God out of our communities by:

Accepting universal tolerance instead of following God’s holy standard [1 Peter 1:15-16]

Holding and inciting long-standing bigotry instead of sharing God’s unconditional love [John 13:35]

Advancing political correctness instead of speaking uncensored truth in love [Ephesians 4:15]

 

We’ve kicked God out of our churches by:

Chasing earthly fulfillment instead of planning for eternity’s inevitability [Hebrews 9:27]

Spouting new age, humanistic, quasi-theological positions instead of teaching, “It is written” [Matthew 4:4-10]

Preaching watered-down, lukewarm doctrine instead of, “rightly dividing the word of truth” [2 Timothy 2:15]

 

We’ve kicked God out of our wallets by:

Prioritizing and hoarding earthly wealth instead of storing up treasures in heaven [Matthew 6:19-20]

Giving grudgingly or ritually instead of giving to God cheerfully [2 Corinthians 9:7]

Withholding based on what you see instead of trusting Him with an overflow [Malachi 3:10]

 

We’ve kicked God out of our homes by:

Tolerating “secret abuse” instead of creating a holy sanctuary filled with God’s presence [Ephesians 6:1-4]

Streaming the world’s filth instead of developing and exhibiting holy lifestyles [1 Thessalonians 4:7]

Keeping up with the neighbors instead of letting our lights shine as Godly witnesses [Philippians 2:15]

 

We’ve kicked God out of our lives by:

Encouraging the best version of ourselves instead of dying to self and becoming Christlike [Luke 9:23]

Justifying and excusing our sin instead of adopting God’s perspective, repenting, and laying it aside [Hebrews 12:1]

Begging for the removal of adverse circumstances instead of allowing God’s sovereign control to refine, purify, and mature [Job 23:10]

 

You ask, “Where is God and why does He no longer seem to bless our nation, our efforts, our lives?” As we’ve seen, there is a wide disparity between what God expects from us and what we are actually doing. We have definitely “lost our first love” [Revelation 2:4].

Christ’s return is imminent. He warned us to repent, watch, pray, and be ready. May we take His loving direction and align ourselves with His Word, Ways, and Will. “Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing” [Matthew 24:46].

Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen!

 

 

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Natestevens

Featured Image by visuals on Unsplash

The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

A lifelong student of Scripture, Nate Stevens has also enjoyed a banking career in a variety of leadership roles. He is the author of Matched 4 Life and Deck Time with Jesus as well as a contributing author on several of the Moments Books (Billy Graham Moments, Divine Moments, Spoken Moments, Christmas Moments, Stupid Moments, Cool-inary Moments, etc.). He writes online devotionals for ChristianDevotions.us and SingleMatters.com as well as articles for several other publications. Additionally, he leads Fusion, a Christian singles ministry he co-founded. A popular speaker and teacher at conferences, seminars and Bible study groups, he speaks on a wide variety of topics. He currently lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, with his beautiful wife, Karen, and is a proud dad of two awesome kids, Melissa and Mitchell.