In times of turmoil around us–hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, mass flooding, unparalleled fires–and within us–sickness, disease, death, accidents, addiction, poverty, crime–many individuals cry out, “Where is God?”  Particularly anguished are families who lose innocent children.

This is not a new question.  And I’m sure I don’t have new answers.  I certainly will not have answers that will satisfy all readers.  All I can do is present thoughts from my heart that come from a life lived long enough to have experienced great joy and great grief.

I believe the Creator of the Universe wants all persons to be healthy and happy.  His plan was instituted with the creation of the world as he set the first man and the first woman in a sumptuous Garden of Eden where there was beauty and harmony.  There were no thorns to prick their fingers and no weeds to choke out the edible fruits of their orchards and vegetables of their fields.

Soon, however, the first human beings succumbed to temptation and broke the one rule God gave them not to eat of the fruit of a particular tree in the garden.  Can you imagine?  They had one rule!  Not the later Ten Commandments.  Not the detailed instructions and regulations of the book of Leviticus in the Bible.  Not the school rules we grew up with.  Not the ordinances of our city and state.  Not the laws of our government.  God gave them one rule, and they managed to break it!

With this first disobedience to God, sin entered the world.  And we all have been suffering the consequences of that act ever since.  God did not make his first persons puppets but individuals with free will.  God still gives each of us free will today.  This freedom to make choices carries with it the outcomes of making decisions.  Some decisions turn out to be good ones.  Some turn out to be bad.  And our decisions not only affect ourselves, but those whose lives we touch.  Sometimes the results carry ramifications for generations to come.

The thesis question I present to you today in the following poem, a petition of my heart, is not “Where is God?” but “Where are you?”

WHERE ARE YOU?

To the coolness of earth’s garden
God returned to view His work,
But the Adam of His likeness
Feared rebuke by God’s own word;
For the masterpiece of God’s love
To another voice had bowed.
Now he shivered in his bareness
At God’s call, “Where art thou?”

Where are you?
Have you run to hide from God’s face?
Where are you?
Have you shunned the love of God’s grace?
If your faith’s been left behind
God stills wants to seek and find,
Forgiving those who answer
“Where are you?”

Did you take the warmth of God’s love
Tucking it inside your heart?
Thinking it was your to harbor,
With no need to share a part
Of the Master’s great salvation
Made complete on Calv’ry’s cross.
Won’t you step from where you’re hidden,
Answ’ring Him when He calls.

Where are you?
Have you run to hide from God’s face?
Where are you?
Have you shunned the love of God’s grace?
If your faith’s been left behind
God stills wants to seek and find,
Forgiving those who answer
“Where are you?”

Written as A Poem of Entreaty
 For All to Answer God’s Call

By Connie Carlisle Polley, 2018
conniecarlislepolley.com