You Will Find God Where You Left Him

All of us have lost things that we have really just ignored. I say “lost”, but sometimes we think we have lost something when we merely have ignored it. For example, have you ever looked for your glasses and realized you are looking through them? Have you ever looked for your pen when it was resting on your ear? There have been times I have been looking for my keys and I was holding them in my hand.

Yesterday my wife and I were taking a walk with our dog. When we were almost back to our house, I said, “Hey, where is Sneffles?” I looked behind me and he wasn’t there. I looked ahead of me and he wasn’t there, and I kind of micro-panicked. I said, “Where is Sneffles?” My wife replied, “He is right there,” and pointed to the ground. I looked right by my knee and he was right by my side. I hadn’t lost him. I didn’t see him. I was ignoring him. I was ignorant of him.

So many times you wonder where God is. There may be reasons for that. Maybe you are going through a difficult time of complexity or confusion and you wonder, “Where is God? I’ve lost Him.” Sometimes you lose some small article and someone says, “Where was the last place you remember seeing it?” That might not be a bad question to ask yourself regarding God. Where was the last time you remember seeing Him? Let me tell you that you will find God where you left Him.

Second Chronicles 15 is speaking about King Asa of Judah. He is returning from a battle against a million-man army over which God gave him amazing, miraculous victory. A prophet gave Asa God’s message in verse 2, “The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him he will forsake you.”

There are a few things to notice. Notice the agency here. God cannot move. He is immutable and cannot change. If I am not where I ought to be with God, one thing I can be sure of is God is not the one who has moved. Maybe circumstances have moved or changed me, grieved, angered, or confused me, but God has not moved.

Sometimes we look around us and realize our friendships have faded. We think, “I didn’t even realize it, but I’m not as close to that person as I once was.” There is a reason for that. Circumstances change; you change; your friend has changed. God never changes. That means you are as close to God as you choose to be. Do you think you are more spiritual than God, that you want to have a relationship with God, but God is indifferent? Even if that is the way it may seem today, I want to tell you that you have agency.

It is interesting to note that trouble is the thing that often points people to God. Sometimes in prosperity we think we are fine. We have health, money, friends, and are just unaware of our need for God. It is usually at the times when we are not doing well that we realize we need God. In verse 3 says that God will be found if you are seeking Him.

The prophet gives Asa an historical example of the fact that God will be found when we seek Him. Speaking of a time of Israel’s history when they had been without a teaching priest, the law, and so on, he said, “But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.” One of the themes of this portion of II Chronicles is seeking God. There were those who sought God and those who did not.

Who is your go-to when you are in trouble? Who do you seek and ask? Ultimately, life comes is made of choices. Who are we going to see and hear? Who we are going to look to in the troubles we have? That is important for us.

In II Chronicles 16 there was a prophet told Asa, “Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the LORD thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped of thine hand.” This is about a second battle King Asa had. For the first battle he relied on God, sought God, had victory over overwhelming odds, but then there was this smaller threat. Maybe precisely because he thought it was a threat he could handle on his own, he didn’t seek God. Later, he had physical problems, a disease in his feet. The Bible says, “In his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the physicians.”

God said, “When you fought the Ethiopians, they were a huge host, but because you relied on Me, I delivered you.” You have choices. Will you rely on God when it is hard and when it is easy? Will you rely on yourself or others? Who are you asking, seeking, and heeding for help? I love II Chronicles 16:9, which says, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” Friend, God sees you. Do you see Him today? You will find God right where you left Him because God cares for and loves you. You ought to be seeking Him.