Are You There God?

 

 When I was growing up, there was a popular book by Judy Blume called Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret.  in which the main character, a sixth grader named Margaret, narrates her search for God and answers about life in general. At the time that the book came out, in 1970, it strongly resonated with me, because I was about the same age, searching for the same answers.

I believe that very same question; "Are you there God?", is something that even the most faithful among us ask ourselves from time to time.  In fact, in spite of our most heartfelt proclamations of faith, those existential questions, "Where/who are you God?"; "What is the meaning of life"; "Why do bad things happen?; "Why me God?",  will still pop up from time to time, because, in essence, life is a mystery. Even faith itself, is an intangible thing. Hebrews 11:1 tells us that  "faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". It is belief in a Presence and a Power that seems, by the evidence of our five senses, to not be there at all.

When I am having doubts, there are two bible passages that I bring to mind and meditate on. Romans 1:20 tells us: "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse...". In other words, the evidence for the Creator is in the creation.  Look around and you'll see his beauty everywhere.  The intricacies of nature are far too ordered and complex to have come about by random chance. There must be a God, right?

The next question gets to the heart of the matter, though: "Is He/She accessible to me, personally?  Can I know God or is the Divine up/out there somewhere?" The second bible passage that I like to meditate on is Psalm 46:10. I'll share a journal entry that I wrote recently:

"Be still and know that I am God".  This verse, from Psalm 46:10, always comes to mind whenever I have lost God. Sometimes, I feel adrift on a boat in a vast ocean and find myself wondering if God even exists and if so, where is He?  Then I remember, yes, just breathe and be still and I will know in my heart that He Is.  I go outside and breathe the early morning freshness. listen to the breeze and the sounds of stirring creatures and I sense a Presence filling me, buoying me safely to shore.

 

The answers to our questions are, I believe, that we cannot ever know God intellectually, no matter how much theological knowledge we acquire. We can only experience him/her in our hearts and in the evidence of answered prayer.  I believe that The Divine is everywhere and we are part of everything. This morning, I will Be Still, find the portal in my heart and enter the flow...