Where Was God When it Happened?
“Innocuè vivete, Numen adest — Live innocently: The Spirit is present” (Ovid).
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
Psalm 139:7-12
September 11, 2001, was a tragic day for the United States, and gave great pause to the world. It was a day when evil seemed to triumph and people needed answers to that perennial question, “Why?” Close on the heels of that question was this sentiment voiced by skeptics and believers alike: “Where was God?” During times of incomprehensible tragedy, man’s instinctive awareness of the existence of God manifests itself in questioning either God’s goodness or His presence.
We have trouble reconciling God’s goodness with His seeming reluctance or inability to prevent trouble. Like Martha and Mary at the death of their brother Lazarus in John 11, we cry, “Lord if you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened (paraphrase)!” Yet we know that Jesus purposely stayed away so tragedy would strike for God’s greater glory.
When 9/11 struck, churches and airwaves were filled with people seeking answers, and God was glorified in the search. Instinctively, many knew that the Christian God was real and not evil, but where was He? During difficult times, when God does not do what we think He should, we react in one of two ways: We either run from Him or run toward Him. Our passage confronts us with the reality that, like Jonah, either effort brings us to confront the everywhere-present God.
To the terror of the sinner and the comfort of the saint, God is everywhere. We are not like the little child separated from Mom and Dad in the mall while preoccupied with the surroundings — no mall cop is needed to find our Heavenly Father. If we rocket to the farthest reaches of the universe, God is there. If we die and end up six feet under (or deeper), God is there. Because God is spirit, He can be in, around, and through everything at once.
If we try to outrun Him at the speed of the dawn light — 186,000 miles-per-second — God is already there. Travel around the world to the most-remote parts of the globe as a missionary, and you are never alone: God is there to lead and strengthen you.
In the darkest part of the night — although there is not a cloud in the sky, the moon is full, and the stars are vibrant — yet your soul is dark with sorrow, fear, and doubt — God needs only the lamp of His glory to see you as if the sun were blazing in all its glory.
If you have never welcomed the Lord Creator Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior from sin, believe that there is nowhere you can hide; God is there calling you to Him. Christian, if circumstances are tempting you to forsake your Heavenly Father, remember His promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
David took great comfort in knowing that God was present from his conception — present outside to take care of his enemies, and present inside to guide and cleanse his heart (see the entire psalm). When we are tempted to ask, “Where was God when it happened?”, we can hear Jesus tell his disciples, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Alan Allegra