Where's God?

Where’s God?

Purpose: To encourage us that God is there

1. I would ask if you’d ever asked the question, "Where’s God?" But anyone who has a few years of adulthood under his belt has asked that question. So I’ll challenge you, this morning, to think of a time in your life when you asked, "Where’s God?"

· Personal crisis (my brother’s divorce, my friend’s death at 35)

· September 11th (3,000 dead in an hour)

· Tsunami (300,000 dead in a moment)

2. Andy Stanley preached a sermon once titled "Where’s God?" He went through story after story from the Bible, going place after place and asking, "Where’s God?"

3. Litany of "Where’s God?" stories in the Bible:

· Joseph in the pit, sold into slavery, accused falsely by Potipher’s wife or forgotten in prison

· Israelite slavery

· Jews under Roman rule

· Death of Jesus

4. Job 1:1-20 - Where’s God? (review briefly the book of Job: Job’s trials, Job’s friends, their big mouths, Job’s laments, etc.) The questions:

· Why?

· Isn’t God paying attention?

· Why is this happening to me? I’m a good person?

· What did I do to deserve this?

5. How about today? Where’s God today? Are we paying attention? A million Christians in the Sudan have been murdered because of their faith. The anti-Christian forces gain ground politically at every turn. The world, in some places, has become post-Christian and America isn’t too far behind. Where’s God?

6. (Answer) Job 38 - There’s God.

· Job refused to give up on God, even though he did not understand why this was happening to him.

7. (Go back and answer, "Where’s God" in each of the situations above.)

· Joseph in the pit, sold into slavery, accused falsely by Potipher’s wife or forgotten in prison (God made him the Prime Minister in all of Egypt)

· Israelite slavery (God sent Moses and overcame the power of Pharaoh)

· Jews under Roman rule (God sent his Son through a young virgin girl)

· Death of Jesus (God raised Jesus from the dead, defeating death and sin forever)

8. What was the Devil’s purpose in plaguing Job? (vs. 9-11) To get Job to turn away from God. Job isn’t the only one. Though out tough times and horrible circumstances, Satan is actively working to destroy our relationship with God.

9. Where’s God? We know God is there through faith in his ultimate purpose, not in our immediate circumstances. Andy Stanley said, "The choice I have in life is this: am I going to allow my circumstances to determine what I believe about God, or will I let God determine what I should believe about my circumstances."

10. Illustration: Trust in the father. I never worried about money when I was a kid. We didn’t have much, but I knew that Dad would just take care of me. My dad is kind of a small guy. But I never worried about who was going to protect me. I just knew he would.

11. Simple trust. Maybe that’s why Jesus said, "You must become like a child." Simple trust, through the toughest of times, in Jesus. He has promised never to leave us or forsake us.

12. Prayer for those in the midst of "Where’s God?" situations right now.