Where is God?

This morning I listened to two accounts of the immediate devastation from the earthquake in Haiti- one from a doctor who spent 87 of her first 90 hours on the ground in surgery and another from one of our COTN Venture staff who was on the ground coordinating medical teams.

Rubble, war zone, guillotine amputations, children crushed by buildings, brutal injuries, hopelessness. These were the words I heard over and over. Finally, Brandon, who has served with COTN for over a decade, said, “Where was God?”

I know the feeling- I know the question all too well. When things seem at there worst- when anguish seems to triumph over joy or even life, where is God?

I have been on the two-year plan to read through the Bible. As I enter year two, I have come to David’s psalms. I am so grateful to have first read through I and II Samuel, which tell so much about the life of this great king. The psalms are David’s expression of his joy, his adoration for a God he knows intimately, his celebration of life, his commitment to the righteous law, his confidence in his covenant with God, his remembrance of the faithfulness of God, his pain, his anguish, his suffering, his loneliness. The Bible, like few others books has the unmatched ability to so accurately account the condition of the human heart in all of its states.

Here is what is incredible and unique about both David and Brandon and any other person who knows God- in the face of hopelessness faith has something, even when it doesn’t.

Frequently, David will cry out in anguish for reprieve, for justice, for mercy. Don’t turn your face from me, hear me, listen to my prayer, save me, answer me… David cries these words time and again (I know because I have been underlining each time he does.)

In Psalms 13 David cries out, “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” I once heard a man pose this question, “Where do you turn when the God you serve abandons you?" The answer? To the God you serve.

The tragedy in Haiti can only remind us again that things in this world are not as they should be- and we cannot control or save ourselves from that which may come, that which does come each day.

But, let us not be mistaken, the question, “Where is God?” is far from the anti-theistic claims of Nietzsche when he suggests that God is dead. Rather, it is an honest question that has an answer.

Just as David concludes Psalms 13 with, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me,” already, we have seen great hope for many of the children in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

I was so grateful to hear Brandon continue his account of his time in-country. “But there was hope, too. We eventually took our teams and a group of children back to the COTN casa. Imagine if you were a child who had survived an earthquake, spent several nights in a refuge camp, had lost a limb, and now you found yourself on a helicopter with a bunch of white people taking you to a new context, away from the chaos of the situation.”

In just a matter of weeks, nearly 100 American surgeons, nurses, physical therapists, trauma counselors and other medical professionals have had the opportunity to be a part of answering the prayers of these children.

God is very much alive and present. He hears the cries of his children, and He answers them. He is loving, merciful, compassionate, good, and righteous. If only we would turn to him more often.