When God Disappears

When God Disappears

Psalm 10:1

Every now and then it happens again - and it seems to be coming more frequently.  Something occurs causing the nation, or the entire world, to pause and question, "Why?"  No.  I'm not talking about Presidential tweets.  I'm talking about what happened a week ago, when a gunman opened fire in a Florida school.  

Sadly, those moments of pause - as noted - seem to be coming upon us at more frequent intervals:  Be they acts of terror or grand, destructive natural happenings, the so-called acts of God.  These events lead us to question.  First, the question, "Why?"  Usually, eventually, the questions come around to, "Where was God?"

In some of these events, those questions are more easily answered than with others.  If the occasion was man-made, we can usually track down the answer to, "Why?"  Some individual usually shapes their will to direct or influence the event to happen.  Yes, we may conclude that their thinking was off:  mad, delusional, and deranged are some of the descriptors usually assigned to such individuals;  But about the other question, "Where was God in all of this?"  That question looms even larger when there is no individual or individuals to point to as cause of the event.  In the eruptions of nature, the so-called "Acts of God,"  we wonder all the more earnestly.  Where is God in such things?  It almost seems, at times, as if He has disappeared.

I want to talk with you this morning about that problem, one that many Christians face; when God disappears.  It is a problem found in our text for this morning;  Psalm 10:1.  
"Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

Now the truth of the matter is that God never disappears. 

How do I know? God gives us this promise in His word. 

Hebrews 13:5b, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. 

But there are occasions where God seems to be distant.  This morning we will look at a few of those so that we can determine which one might be happening in our particular circumstances. 

1. I.  Body
1. A.  When We Hide From God
1. 1. Some times it is not God, but us who is the one disappearing.  When God called out to Adam and Eve they were hiding in the garden, did they really think that He didn’t know where they were?  He had planted the very trees that they were hiding in.  That’s like a little baby covering there eyes playing with a parent and thinking that just because their eyes are closed and they can’t see you, you can’t see them either. 
2. 2. Now when Adam and Eve hid it was because of sin, but what is another reason that people flee from His presence?
1. a) Some flee because they don’t want to do what He is asking them to do.  Fleeing from service you could say.  MIA  -- Missing In Action --  as the military calls it. 
2. b)We read about such a case in Jonah.
3. c) Jonah 1:2-3, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 
3. 3. You see God told Jonah to do something and Jonah thought He could be MIA for that job.  The same thing still happens. God calls you to do something for Him.  You might not get on a boat to Tarhish, but you run from the calling.  You might be afraid like Jonah. Nineveh was a town of great wickedness.  Not one that would be receptive to any kind of preaching.  He was afraid of what the people might do to him. 
4. 4. Maybe God has called you to do something and you are afraid like Jonah.  You are afraid of what others might say.  You are afraid of what others might do.  You are afraid of what others might think. 
5. 5. There is another sin that is not talked about.  It’s not even one that is shown through its action.  It is lack of action that causes the sin.  If God tells you to do something and you don’t then it is a sin.  If God tells you to witness to someone and you don’t, then you have the sin of silence.  Sometimes it’s not what you say; it’s what you don’t say.
6. 6. Some people will even quit going to church totally to keep from doing the service that God has gave them to do.
7. 7. So what are you running from God for?  Are you MIA?  Are you fleeing His presence? 
8. 8. Do a U-turn.  Tell Him you don’t know how to do it, but with God's help you are willing to try.  He wants your availability, not your ability.  He never will ask you to do something that He hasn’t all ready prepared the way for you to do it. 
9. 9. I heard a story about a woman who sang in a church group.  At 3:00 in the morning one day she was awakened and felt like God was telling her to go down to the riverbank of the Ohio River and sing “Amazing Grace”.  She thought she was losing it, surly God wouldn’t want her to do that; especially at that time in the morning.  But the presence of God never left her and kept on impressing her to do it.  So she got up and woke her husband and told him that as crazy as it seems she needed to go down to the Ohio River and sing “Amazing Grace”.  She got dressed and went down to the riverbank and sang the song and got back in the car and went home.  As strange as it seemed at the time, she left with a peace knowing that she had did what God had told her to do.  A few weeks latter they were singing at a camp meeting held in a tent by the Ohio River.  A man stood up and testified that a few weeks ago that he had went down to the river and had planned on committing suicide that night but all of the sudden he heard an angle singing “Amazing Grace”.  He accepted Christ and who knows what would have happened if that woman had denied God’s presence and not done what God told her to do.
10. 10. Sometimes we run from God's presence.  If we can do this, as individuals, what about a nation?  Can a nation flee her calling?
2. B. When Sin Hides Him
1. 1. From the beginning of time, sin has caused separation from God. 
1. a) Genesis 3:8, And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
2. 2. Cain after slaying his brother.
1. a) Genesis 4:16, And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
3. 3. And it doesn’t stop there.  All through out the Bible you will find where God took withheld His blessing from His people because of sin among His people. 
4. 4. An example of that is Achan’s sin
1. a) Joshua chapter 7, Achan took for himself an ingot of gold, a quantity of silver, and a "beautiful Babylonian garment" from Jericho when the commandment was that all of those things from Jericho were to be devoted to God. God withheld His blessing from the nation until that sin was discovered and dealt with.
2. b)  Ezekiel 22:29-31 — The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.
3. c) Acts 3:19, Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord
5. 5. Sin - our own sin, and sometimes the sins of others - will cause separation from God.   This is true for individuals as well as for nations  Israel is our example of a nation called and established by God that went astray, served other gods and was held accountable for the nation’s sin  What might that example mean for this nation?
3. C. Sometimes God Withholds His Presence

1. 1. This last example can be the most difficult for us to understand.
2. 2. How many here this morning know how to ride a bike?  How many of you still ride with the training wheels that they learned with? 
1. a) You see sometimes God will withhold His presence from us because He wants us to take off the training wheels. 
2. b) It’s easy to worship God when things are doing good and you have your health and your family and every thing is like the ending of a fairy tale, “Happily ever after”.   But just like the fairy, this isn’t very realistic. 
3. 3. Rick Warren writes in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, “The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain, thanking God during a trial, trusting Him when tempted, surrendering while suffering, and loving Him when he seems distant”.
4. 4. As you mature as Christians, God may test you with periods of seeming separation.  And sometimes it’s during a trial or a tragedy. How could God let my little baby die?  Why would God allow someone who loves Him get terminal cancer?
5. 5. Job is a perfect example of this.  Satan came to present himself to the Lord. God says, “Have you checked out Job lately?”  So God allows Satan to test Job and in a matter of days he lost his family, his wealth, and his health.  He had not done anything wrong and even though God was there, he couldn’t feel His presence.
6. 6. Job 23:8-10, Look, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him: When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him: when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him: But he knows the way that I take: when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
7. 7. You see sometimes when you feel God has distanced Himself from you; it is not because of sin, it is not a case of you fleeing Him; it is a process of Him maturing you. 
8. 8. There is a problem today that we must address.
1. a)  A lot of Christians today are seeking an experience from God rather than seeking God Himself.  
2. b)  They seek a feeling and if they get that feeling then they feel as if they have worshipped.  
3. c)  God often removes our feelings, like training wheels, so we won’t depend on them. 
4. d) Seeking a feeling is not worship. He wants you to trust Him more than you feel Him. 
5. e) It is Faith not feelings that pleases God. 
1. II. Conclusion
1. A.  Where was God in the recent shootings?  
2. B.  God was there in the Football coach who shielded students
1. 1. The assistant football coach and school security guard Aaron Feis stood in front of students, protecting them while the shooter gunned him down, says the football team.
2. 2. "He died the same way he lived -- he put himself second.”  — Denise Lehtio, high school spokeswoman
3. C. God was there in the Teacher who hid her class in a closet
1. 1. Melissa Falkowski, a journalism teacher at the school huddled 19 students in a closet while gunfire rang in the halls. She and the students all survived. Falkowski told NBC News that some of her students were "hysterical" while she tried to ensure their safety until SWAT could escort them out of the building.
2. 2. "This is the worst nightmare that could ever happen to you.”   — Melissa Falkowski told CNN
4. D. God was there in the Janitor who ushered students to safety
1. 1. An unnamed school janitor guided students away from the shooter and into a classroom where they hid until the building was cleared. 
2. 2. Student David Hogg said they were only about 100 feet away from the gunman.   "There was a janitor that thank God stopped me and all of my fellow students from going in that direction, towards the shooter."
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. E.  A Nation Can Return To God
1. 1.  It begins with His People
2. 2.  Remember 2 Chron.  7:14 -- if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
3. 3.  Our nation needs people of prayer who will “stand in the gap”
4. 4.  People like the Old Testament saint, Daniel, who prayed not only for his own sins, but for those of Israel as recorded in Daniel, chapter 9.  V.4-5 “… I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.”
6. F.  Individuals Can Find God, Too.
1. 1.God is here.  He never disappears, even though it seems that way at times. 
2. 2. The only time that God is not there is if you reject Him and then not only do you spend an eternity in Hell, but even more devastating is the eternal separation from God. 
3. 3. But you have a choice.  He desires to have a relationship with you.
4. 4. Luke 19:10, For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
5. 5. If you are here this morning and you don't know God as your Savior, you can accept Him today.
6. 6. If you have sin in your life causing separation from God you can make it right today. 
7. 7. If you are separating yourself from God because you don’t want to do what He is asking of you - then you can come and surrender to Him. 
8. 8. If it's none of the above - and you still feel distant from God, come to Him this morning and ask Him for strength and patience to endure this test of faith.  Stand strong like Job and say, "when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold."