‘THE GOD OF NOWHERE’

It is easy to despair in difficult times, and to wonder whether God is even around, or whether He is nowhere. But the Promised One had already come more than two thousand years ago and many people did not recognise Him then. From despair at Calvary, Christ defeated death, brought hope into the world, and transformed it. He is still present with us today. Our writer Katherine shares in her prose poem that while our current circumstances may seem anxiety-inducing, it is in and through Christ that we find our hope. God has His timing, but He is not the ‘God of Nowhere’.   

The future feels far more uncertain compared to the yesterdays, especially when the mirror of hindsight looms ominously. Unexpected events can come and shatter the normal we once took for granted. Regret marks itself unto our past memories.

The happenings of 2020 may very well be a cause that drove children to grow up early, for survival games played in common rooms are no longer just a conversational diversion. The intensity is no longer just that of a game with an on-off switch button. The joke of “The floor is lava!” has metamorphosed into reality. Worse still, more often than we like to think of, there seems to be no safe landing place to escape to.

Christmas is set to arrive in a few days, a reminder of the hope that arrived into our world. The King – the Beloved – who becomes Love. Behold, the One who holds us dearly. Yet to many, this is a picture acquainted with children’s stories and meaningless daydreams. To others, it feels that the God Christians look to is simply the ‘God of Nowhere’. For there are times when testimonies do not seem to hold water and when hypocrisy runs amok, when desperate prayers go unanswered, and injustices continue to vaunt.

Where is God really?

Whether acknowledged or ignored, many hearts are seeking an answer to the awful mixtape of today’s horrors. Likely, the same things went on in the Jewish people’s hearts during the biblical times. Long have they heard prophecies and about the future that is to come – that there would be a redemption – a leader to look up to. A waiting that spanned numerous generations. When those promises did not seem to materialise, they must have seemed to have withered like moody winds to those people. ‘Just empty, tired, words,’ they felt.

Little did they know, the Saviour had arrived in an unordinary fashion, swaddled poorly during a probably chilly night. To imagine that no one would recognise His coming – to turn the Promised One away at comfort’s door – sounds outrageous. Yet many times it is likely we do not see Him when He is present with us; the creeping whispers claim that He is the ‘God of Nowhere’. Even then, the hope of the world, personified, laid there unmistakably, bidding His mortal time.

Time moves forward (a boat we are all bound to sail adrift in) and the baby grows up into a man, into the Son of Man and the Son of God. What do these names mean? He is the Chosen One, gaining recognition and attention from onlookers that this man is different from the other prophets before Him. The word spreads: He may be the One predicted by the wise seekers of old. He rouses the curious crowd, compels nature at His command; for who else can quell raging seas for the terrified fishermen? Just as Jesus seems to be a King fitting for the throne, to overthrow the existing system, the tables turned overnight through the act of a traitorous disciple. The Promised One was sold for thirty pieces of dirtied silver.

Where had the momentum gone?

The Messiah sought turned out to be a lamb led to slaughter. He was placed on the cross, on which He was branded a sinner, and on the seat reserved for criminals. Disappointment was like a blanket that covered the Jews and the faces of the olden-time believers. Once again, hope had seemed like a foolish wish.

Yet God, in His loving and knowing, arrives at the right time. No one could believe the meaning of the Resurrection. The renewing of things to come. The faith restored, and how because He loves, He does not leave His people as they are, but reveals the Rescuer. How could God turn out to be so attentively personal?

Here is a reminder for all of us, that in any generation, God is right here, in the right time, and in the right place, even as we frequently catch ourselves wishing that He would be the God of Right Now.

For right now definitely feels extremely pressing – it is a time of worldly disasters, of unstable economies, of physical and mental declination, of strained relationships, and more. Every breath to the broken-hearted is a struggle and dips into spiralling falls; an anxiousness that does not rest. Rage engulfs its victims to do the unforgivable in an effort to find release. Sorrows flood unwelcomed as we hear of the next numbered death, an ailing loved one, the loss and grief of what could have been.

I know how much I want God to be the God of Right Now.

His timing is unaccounted for – though some questions may not get answered in this lifetime, and while I am accustomed to look at broken pieces of expectation, far more often should you and I be reminded to lift our eyes to see Him.

Could we be implored to have faith like that of the prophet Isaiah, who proclaimed the year of the Lord’s favour upon the land he was allocated to? Faith on which ashes would be traded for crowns of beauty, mourning turned into joy, praise defeating spiritual despair, that devastated cities may be renewed, and life will be found in the fields again (Isaiah 61). Could we cloak ourselves with mountain-moving faith (Matthew 17), or prepare our chariots to meet the tiny rain cloud of promise (1 Kings 18)? God walks with us, even when we do not feel Him near.

He is not the ‘God of Nowhere’.

More so, while this year strikes differently in comparison to the yesteryears, all noise fades in the light of Jesus’ arrival thousands of years ago. The Presence we could never anticipate still shines true today, along with the powerful promises He had sown. Though currently we seem to be lost in ruins, in hindsight, we will see all that has become glorious.

I cannot presume on your behalf. But for me? Christmas must have come early, for He is already here. He is Emmanuel, ‘God with us’. And it is my Christmas hope that you know that He is here with you too.