Where Is Your God?

Scripture

Day and night I have only tears for food while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”

~Psalm 42:3, NLT

Quote

We need the closet of private prayer, but we also need to experience the presence of God in corporate worship.

~Alton H. McEachern

We believe that the Psalmist was an exile and perhaps a member of one of the Northern Tribes. Some believe he was an Israelites that had been deported and resettled somewhere in the area of modern day Syria. The Psalmist gives us a clue in verse six, Now I am deeply discouraged, but I will remember you—even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan, from the land of Mount Mizar. Evidently, he could see Mount Hermon which sits on the Northern border of Israel. His heart was broken because he remembered walking with a crowd of worshipers leading a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration! Now he was forbidden to make that annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He was also taunted by his pagan neighbors who were idol worshipers and they were constantly asking him, “Where is your God?” They had their gods in hand and on shelves or mantle pieces but the Hebrews worshiped the Invisible One who made heaven and earth.

How do we respond when life unfolds in ways that we have not anticipated? As Swindoll says metaphorically, “What do you do when life throws you are hard curse on the inside of the plate?” Sometimes you have to jump out of the batters box and at times it takes you to the ground. Most of us have stories of those moments when we felt absolutely undone. Isaiah had one in chapter six: he said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man.” Things can happen in our experience that shake us up; things we never anticipated, things we never dreamed or imagined. It is one thing for the unbelievers to doubt the presence of God in this world but when things go wrong and life comes unraveled, we may struggle with some doubt ourselves. Where is God? Why did He allow this to happen? Why did He allow the dems to steal an election? What on earth is going on? God’s word {bible} and prayer are huge encouragements but I need corporate worship desperately. I have no desire to miss corporate worship. It is not because I get to preach, although I do loving preaching. It is because of Jesus promise in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.” Thomas laid out of church the very first Sunday of the NT era; did he feel the presence of Christ at home? No! Did he need to meet with the other believers? Yes!

Extra

Just for the record, I wrote this blog last week. Ironically, Joe David preached on the same subject yesterday. God designed us to need HIM and each other. Great day yesterday. We had a record crowd at our 6:30 sunrise service. I can assure you, no one expected it. We had 47 vehicles but that includes two vans that carry 22 people. I can think of only two single occupant vehicles. So I am going to guess 120 and yes that is more than we have on any given Sunday Morning. The Breakfast doesn’t hurt. I was told not to get the big head about the crowd: they didn’t come to hear me preach; they came to eat. I don’t care, so long as they come. We had so many I didn’t get any eggs and only one piece of sausage; some got less. PTL it is a good problem.

DBC also had a crowd; just guessing, I would say 350-400, maybe more. I heard some great music yesterday. Doug did great on HE IS ALIVE and I don’t know the name of Hailey’s song but it was wonderful–all the music was great. Ole Gregg and I were there and we did pretty good ourselves. He and I are going to do a duet at Sarah’s COLS. He says we are going to do SUNLIGHT which must be ole Greggs favorite hymn. In honor of Sarah, we are not going to sing Sunlight or any other song.

Mrs. Sarah Hooper took her heavenly flight Saturday around noon. She went peacefully. Sarah was a dear friend and avid supporter. She and her sister Lexi and her brother loved the DIGEST. Sarah was at the point of death 15 years ago. She stayed in the ICU of what was then Montclair Medical Center in Birmingham. We thank God for that extra 15 years. By the way, just 6 weeks ago, she and her daughters spend 3-4 days in Pigeon Forge. Sarah didn’t get cheated: she lived everyday to its fullest. Her COLS will probably be sometime tomorrow.

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