where are you, God?

Bad news from a friend whose heart is broken, who has never felt heartache like she does now, the reality of the worsening situation in Zimbabwe and being unable to get a hold of Robert or Tabani, the last several days I've been acutely aware of the fragility of life and the way in which we truly have been created out of nothingness. In light of the injustice and the pain, I can't help but confront God, perhaps a bit too boldly, with the question, "Where are you, God? Where are you when 80 percent of the people in Zim are living below the poverty line and when corruption may cause 5 million people to die of starvation? Where are you when young boys are being kidnapped from their families and forced to kill? Where are you?"

I've been asking this question of God for several days. And, as I woke up this morning, God responded. It wasn't an answer of overwhelming force, but a gentle and persistent presence that said, "I'm right here." And I knew that I was wrong. My question was undergirded by an implicit answer. "Where are you, God?," I asked. My answer - "Not here." But God reminded me today that, yes, we are creatures, created out of nothingness and, thus, absolutely unstable. Yes, to look out into the chaos is terrifying. But we were never meant to look out into that nothingness alone and, though we often times don't realize it, God is standing with us as we peer into the nothingness. God keeps us from falling back into the nothingness from which we came.

The chaos of life is absolutely real. But God's constant presence is also real. Where is God when the child is dying of starvation? God is there. God is with the child. God is holding her. God is crying.