A Questioning Heart

“This is what the LORD says: They stopped asking, ‘Where is the LORD…?’” Jeremiah 2:5a, 6a

Last year, my sisters and I couldn’t find our mother no matter what phone we called. We talked back and forth, texted back and forth and began feeling anxious. Over the course of the next little while, Benay got word that someone had seen an ambulance in the driveway. She followed up with the local hospital who confirmed Mother was in the emergency room. It turnedout being a severe allergic reaction, so they treated here, tested her and eventually sent her home. She had not told us because she didn’t want to alarm us. Needless-to-say, we gave her specific directions for future emergencies! I thought of this event when I read this verse today. God was well aware His people had stopped asking for Him. They no longer looked for Him in their daily circumstances. I believe there is nothing worse than feeling like you are not missed…not considered…not pursued for relationship. I can’t imagine how Mother would have felt if none of us even missed her. What would she have thought if she had to take a taxi home, realizing that no one searched for her during this time?

I believe that the heart of God was deeply grieved that no one was looking for Him. They had quit asking ‘Where are you, Lord’? They no longer pursued His spirit, sought His presence or looked for His involvement. When we quit asking God where He is, we quit searching for Him. God knows the moment we no longer question Him is the moment our hearts and minds start searching for substitutions. God has told us where He is, but that is in print on a page in the Bible. He desires us to form the question and search for Him in all our circumstances. He wants to reveal Himself to us in the good and sweet times…the mundane and the chaotic times…the confusing and the calm times. He is always with us, sometimes leading us and other times asking us to lead in faith as He acts as our rear guard. We discover by our verse this morning that the heart of God desires us to question Him. To question is to care…to question is to fellowship…to question is to learn…to question is to love and be loved.

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:7-10.