God, Where Are You?

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Why Won't He Respond to Prayer?

I know a lot of Christians who regularly pray, "God, where are you?"

They wonder, in some doubt and difficulty, why God has not responded to their heartfelt and faith-filled prayers for something. While many Catholics and Christians consider a question such as "God, where are you?" to be a harmful doubt and even irreverent, I disagree. There are many instances when Christians and all types of believers wonder if God exists, or if He is actually listening to prayer. In fact, in Psalm 44, the psalmist asks a similar question, and ends the prayer wondering if his God has fallen asleep! The psalmist demands that God wake up! This is even in the Bible, so it is perfectly natural that Christians wonder where God is.

Even Jesus pretty much asked the same exact question when He cried out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" If Jesus, God's Son, can ask "God, where are you?", then certainly Christians can ask it without having our faith questioned. Of course, faith is very important and, ultimately, the way of faith in the Lord is the better way, something Jesus makes quite clear, especially to Thomas in John 20. Nonetheless, it is a normal part of life to have difficulties and ask questions. And God is merciful and understands that even the most faithful Christians have times when doubt enters their minds!