Where Is God?
By John C. Robertson

Zion had grown despondent while in their seventy years of Babylonian captivity. Judah had been crushed by Babylon. The people of God that were not slain by the sword, pestilence, or famine were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar. Years and years go by with the remnant in a foreign land having lost many family members and their possessions. The people, at the height of their despair, cry “God has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me.” Where was God?

Sometimes people today wonder where God is. Why would God permit over 20,000 people in Japan to die in an earthquake and tsunami? Where was God when the terrorist flew the airplanes into the World Trade Center towers? Why does God permit human sex trafficking of girls twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen years old right here in America? Where is God as millions upon millions of unborn babies are being aborted? Where is God while hate governs the hearts of so many the world over? Has God forgotten his created people?

The Apostle Peter reveals the modern thought of men, regarding God’s whereabouts, as they live and die generation after generation. Peter writes, “Know this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Pet. 3:3-4). Overanxious man desires to see and know the whereabouts of God.

The disciples of Jesus were anxious as well saying, “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world” (Matt. 24:3)?

Yes the world continues to revolve around its axes in the universe. Time continues to pass. Man continues to suffer. Innocent people continue to die. Sickness, disease, war, and cruelty continue to take lives. Where is God?

After the people of God in Babylon conclude, “God has forgotten me” the Lord replies, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me” (Isa. 49:15-16). God was with his people in captivity and he cared for them.

Peter also answers the people’s question, “Where is the promise of his coming” (2 Pet. 3:4). The Apostle writes, “For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:5-13, ASV). – Floral Heights Church of Christ Bulletin, July 25, 2016. 

The Church is Not...
Author unknown, edited

The church is not made up of people who believe they are better than others, but rather it is made up of those who realize their need to be better, and continually strive to do better (Lk. 13:23, 24).

The church is not made up of perfect people, but people who realize they are following a perfect Lord and a perfect plan—the Bible (Jas. 2:25).

The church is not made up of people who never sin, but those who will acknowledge their sins and forsake them (1 Jn. 1:8-10).

The church is not trying to set up arbitrary rules to hinder anyone, but rather to show the rule of Christ which helps everyone (Phil. 3:15, 16).

The church is not trying to take the joy out of your life, but rather trying to instill the beauty of holiness and true joy in your life (Rom. 14:17).

The church is not trying to separate you from your money, but rather is trying to keep your money from separating you from God (1 Tim. 6:6-19).

The church is not trying to rob you of your time, but rather trying to get you to put the priorities of your life in proper order and not rob God (Matt. 6:24-33). 

Yesterday – Today – Tomorrow.
Author unknown, edited

Each week has two days about which we should not worry, two days we should keep free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed; it’s forever beyond our control.

All of the world’s money cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single word spoken or deed done. Yesterday is gone forever.

The other day about which we should not worry is tomorrow, with its possible adversaries, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control, for it never comes.

If God permits, tomorrow’s sun will rise, either in splendor, or behind a cloudy mask. Until it does, we have no stake in it, for it is yet unborn, out of our view.

This leaves only one day–today. Anyone can fight life’s battles for just one day. Only when we add the burdens of those awful eternities–yesterday and tomorrow–do we break down!

It is not today’s experience that drives us mad. It is remorse or bitterness for what happened yesterday and the dread of what may happen tomorrow. Let us, therefore, live but one day–today–at a time. 

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that’” (Jas. 4:13-15—NKJV).