In His Presence

Back to the Garden

  Have you ever asked God, "Why?" Why did my loved one die? Why did you not heal? Why are you not answering my prayers? Where are you, Lord? Why do these awful injustices keep happening, and the wicked keep getting away with it? When God does not answer your questions, do you try to figure the answers out yourself? Why would God allow this? Did I do something or not do something? What if I had done things differently? Does God even love me?

I have asked all those and racked my brain to understand why God does and allows the things he does, and the only place that got me was out from under his protection, filled with anxiety, fear, doubt, and wanting to walk away from God altogether. Have you ever been there? Is that not the enemy's plan?

Job asked God why he would allow his servant to be stricken, and God answered him with "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?" "Surely you know" (Job 38:4-5, ESV). Jonah thought he knew better than God as to what to do with the wicked, and God responded, "Is it right for you to be angry" (Jonah 4:4, NIV)? When we try to figure things out for ourselves or think we know better than God to even question him, we are not walking in the will of God. He is the sovereign one, and we are but dust of the earth, yet he is mindful of us. It does not mean that we do not have those feelings or those questions, but what good does it do us to try to figure it all out when we serve a God that knows all things?

I thought if I could just figure out why God was doing what he was doing, it would make everything better. Then one night, I saw Sheila Walsh on TV, and what she said was meant just for me at that moment. She said after a long year of many struggles and asking God why, she realized " I used to think I needed answers to my prayers. But now I get it; I don't need answers-I need his presence." In that moment, I realized I do not need to know the "whys", I need to know the one who does know the "whys". David understood this when he said, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy" (Psalm 16:11, ESV). David knew a life committed to God would bless us now and into eternity.

We were made to walk and commune with our Creator. Adam and Eve lived fully in the presence of God, and they had everything they needed. It was when they strayed from that and wanted to gain knowledge that the relationship was broken. Praise God, he never intended to leave it that way and sent Jesus to bring us back to the garden, where one day we will be fully restored. "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Cor. 13:12). When we get to heaven, we will see Jesus perfectly and be in perfect relationship with our Creator. Spurgeon said that if we knew everything this side of heaven, we would not be able to handle it, and it could cause great damage (Guzik, 2023).

May I encourage you all, as we walk into 2026, to throw off needing to know all the "whys" and be content walking with the one who does know. Let us understand as David did, "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple" (Psalm 27:4).

May this year be the year of resting in the presence of the Lord as if we are already back in the garden.

Digital Painting, Psalm 23,91, "You Prepare a Table"

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