Suffering’s a door
In my video entitled The Real God, I ask if you know where God is. If you had to show me by a physical distance, say in the room you are in right now, where would you put yourself and where would you put God? Do you find yourself wanting the room’s dimensions to stretch a bit or a whole lot?
The book of Genesis tells us where God is in relation to the created world: “… and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2). It doesn’t make much sense that a God who would go to all this trouble to bring about the created world and form us from its dust would then back way off and just let nature take its course. No. God is still hovering.
Take that in. God is hovering over you, over your problems, over your doubts, over your anger, over your wounds, over your fear. And let’s go one step further. God is a lot smarter than you are. God sees the whole picture. God knows how to fit this with that in order for this to work out best. God knows how to use wounds, the ones you have and the ones you’ve inflicted, to bring about good in you and in those you’ve hurt. All it takes is your showing up and offering to participate in this work of Kingdom coming.
We all have the choice.
One last thing. What you’ve been taught about God? Whether you’ve come away thinking God is distant, vindictive, mean, proud, or way too soft, well, keep in mind, all this may be wrong. How about finding out for yourself? How about stepping forward and looking again? What is it that makes those mystics’ eyes dance? And what is it about suffering that helps us to see things differently?
Reflection
Is all the suffering in the world your reason for backing off from belief in God? What if suffering can be the very thing that helps you run right into God?
Prayer
Dear God, people make fun of believing in You. It’s naive, they say. Just look around, they say. The world is too f’-d up. But there’s something in me that is curious, and I’m told that something is what You put into me when You made me. Show me how to listen to this voice within. Help me to bypass what others think — and my own doubts — and try this new way of finding You — through my own and others’ suffering. Amen.