Where Was God?

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Where Was God?


In his column yesterday in The New York Times, William Safire answers a question that is often on the lips of many when disaster strikes: Where is God? I urge all good people to read this column and to realize that even though we all face difficult even impossibly dreadful periods, God remains with us.

In the wake of what feels like catastrophe after catastrophe, we must remember that God has given us the gift of Free Will and that it is by the expression of same that often bad things can occur at the hand of Man. The events of 9-11-01 provide proof of that. Tsunamis on the other hand are not acts of Man but are the physical reaction from the design of the earth by God. So why would a provident all seeing and loving God impose such death destruction and sorrow on us. The truth is God does not impose it upon us but is with us to help us deal with it. Safire's discussion of the Book of Job explains the great gift that the suffering of Job was and how it came to be that he was chosen to be so put upon.

In my own life I have dealt with great sorrow. Through the strength that God has given me; in the wiping from my brow the worry about the things I cannot control, and in the knowing that He is with me and those that I love; I go on. Yes I have struggled through the illnesses of my wife and Father, and the death of the latter at 67. The fire that destroyed my law office a few months ago, and even my own brushes with death set me back on a number of occassions. Somehow I have found that I can curse my luck and be as angry as I want with God, but as long as I believe in Him, He remains there for me, to comfort me in my pain, to give me strength so that I may be there for others, and, far more often than not, He has helped me address the needs and find a way to improve whatever has happened and make things far better than they were before disaster struck.

Often I am confronted with the Question Where is God? I am reminded each time of the story about the man who when he gets to heaven is shone a time line of his life as Footprints in the Sand. How during the Good times there would be two sets of prints and during the bad times of his life only one set of footprints were visible in the sand. The good man is told by Saint Peter that the two prints are the man's prints and God's. He then asks why during the bad times God had abandoned him, how God could have left him by himself. St. Peter laughs at the man. Then he points to the periods of time when there were only one set of prints in the sand and tells the man, "My friend, when you see only one set of footprints, they are not yours. They are the Heavenly Father's. Those were the times when he carried you."

As I look around the world today, I see how much work there is for God. He is carrying many of us, here and abroad. For the sake of Mankind, I hope He continues that work. For our own sake, I hope we realize He is there doing that work, and that we look to Him, and let Him do the work He has promised us He would do.