March 14, 2023
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”
– Jeremiah 29:13
When we face a tragedy, many of us say, “God wasn’t there for me.” Or “Where is God?” “Where is God?” could be the collective plea of a suffering humanity.
In the Old Testament, there is a common theme: God is searching for humanity, calling humanity to come to him, to return to him.
Only in modern times did our understanding of God get turned upside down. Contemporary man searched for God but couldn’t find him. Following global atrocities that included two World Wars, the teachings of major religions were called into question. Widespread suffering led to disbelief.
Suffering has existed since the beginning of time, and there is no simple explanation for it. Suffering is a mystery of the human condition we’ll never understand in this lifetime. Nevertheless, there is one certainty. Out of everything comes good because of God, despite the twisted and painful wreckage humanity creates. Many people who have endured great suffering come to that conclusion on their own. Mystics have a firm understanding of that reality. Out of our suffering, God brings good.
While you may not immediately see evidence of God’s presence, you will eventually … when all the threads are untangled and you have a chance to look back on the road you traveled.
In the poem “Footprints in the Sand,” a person walking with God looks back over his life and sees two pairs of footprints, except during the most tragic periods, when there is only one set. Why did God abandon him during the worst possible time? And God says:
“My precious child, I love you and will never leave you.
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.”
***
Although you may not see his presence, hold on to the belief that God is always with you.