This Week’s Article: Where is God?

Where is God?  That is a question that seems to be asked quite often.  Tragedy strikes and someone loses a loved one and they ask, “Where is God?”  A marriage is in shambles, it feels like two strangers are living together and they ask, “Where is God?”  The Christian is ridiculed for his faith and faces persecution and even he may ask where his God is.  What is the answer?  Where is God?

Had you asked a Jew this question a few thousand years ago they would have had the answer.  They would point you towards Jerusalem and tell you about a massive temple, made of gold.  They would have told you about the priests overseeing an altar for sacrifices and about a high priest who would go before the Ark of the Covenant in the holiest place once a year.  The Jew would have been able to tell you the exact spot where God resided with mankind.  Then if you were to go seek out God’s presence, you would find this temple.  This temple being a building constructed with the utmost reverence and care.  It was plated with gold and had every luxurious design imaginable.  Or had you sought God’s presence a few years earlier than this you would have found a tabernacle decked with all kinds of precious metals and a lavish amount of beauty.  You would see this and know that this God is important and that He is a God that deserves reverence, honor, and glory.  Also, if you took the time, you would come to understand this God would be able to heal you and your crisis that pressed you to ask about His whereabouts.  But that was then.  Where is God now?

There are no temples or tabernacles that serve as God’s dwelling place among man today.  Where is God?  Has He abandoned man?  We know that is not the case for God has promised He would “never leave us, nor forsake us” in Hebrews 13:5.  The place where God resides among man is in the very hearts of His followers.  1 Corinthians 6 makes it very clear those who are God’s people also act as the place where God’s presence resides with mankind.  However, the chapter also shows that as God’s temple we also have an important responsibility to be pure and holy.  Just as the temple under the old covenant, our hearts must be decorated with honor and reverence.  We must live our lives in a way that reflects the God that dwells within us.  Our search for God in the Old Testament brought us to a pure and holy temple.  Our search for God in these New Testament times should, in fact, bring us to the exact same thing; a pure and holy temple.  God does not tell us to—nor should we—build elaborate, ornate buildings and monuments in order to honor God for He has already constructed His temple in the hearts of His people.

By Patrick Dwyer

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Monday May 21, 2012

Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26:4, ESV)