Where is God? When we are in a big trial or bombarded by a series of little frustrations, we may wonder why God does not intervene. We may wonder why we put forth the effort to obey God if we are not seeing benefits now. We may wonder if God even exists!
Some believe that the universe and all that is in it evolved over billions of years, without any intelligent direction. Is there a God?
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 1969 lists a definition of “God” as “1. A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe, the principal object of faith and worship in monotheistic religions.” Taking part of this definition, let's concentrate on proving that there is an originator of the universe and that He is all-powerful (omnipotent).
Let us study two ways in which God proves Himself to us.
We look at the size of the universe. It is larger than we can imagine. Even if we could travel at the speed of light, it would take many life times just to cross our galaxy. Our galaxy is one of 100,000,000,000 galaxies, each with 100,000,000,000 stars! Each star and their planets (if they have them) is a collection of a tremendous number of atoms. Each atom is composed of protons, neutrons and electrons. Each of these is a combination of subatomic particles. Something this big and complicated could not have evolved by itself.
One aspect of creation that we can look at to prove the existence of God is the presence of radioactive elements. Each radioactive element has what is called a half-life. That is the time in which half of a given amount of that element would decay. If the universe had no beginning and had always existed, there would be no radioactive elements. Over a certain amount of time they would have all decayed into non-radioactive elements. The universe had a beginning.
The second aspect of creation is the principle of biogenesis. That is the concept that life comes only from life. This principle has been well known for hundreds of years, and no exception has ever been reported! Therefore, the living things on earth must have come from something that is alive. That living originator of life was God!
A third aspect of creation is the human mind. A human mind cannot create anything that is truly superior to it. The computers that people build may be able to remember better or process certain data faster, but they cannot truly think or feel or be self-aware as humans can. A mind superior to the human mind must have created it.
A fourth aspect is the existence of food. It would be astounding enough for an organism to evolve, but it would be more unbelievable for its living food supply to also evolve into a form that is compatible with it. Organisms and their food had to be planned!
A fifth aspect is the timing of the universe. The stars in our galaxy revolve around the center of the galaxy in a predictable period of time. The earth revolves around the sun in one year. The moon revolves around the earth in a lunar month. The earth rotates on its axis in a day. Scientists make atomic clocks (based on the repeatable resonance of certain atomic particles) with amazing accuracy. All of these things indicate the complexity of the universe. Imagine an accurate watch able to keep time to within seconds per month. It did not just develop by chance (evolve). It was designed and built. The universe is just as complicated and required a Designer and Builder.
We can prove the existence of God by how He intervenes in our lives. The Great Lakes Church of God came out of an organization founded by the late Herbert W. Armstrong. He wrote about a man who was dying of blood poisoning. Mr. Armstrong prayed, and the man was healed! This writer knows of a man who prayed for healing and one of his legs increased in length by one or two inches to match the other! Some people have been healed when they have even left a message on a telephone answering machine asking a man of God for prayer.
One of the biggest miracles is the development of character in the human mind. In your Bible read Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13-14. (Another Bible study will prove that the Bible is inspired by God.) The King James Version refers in verse 14 to the Holy Spirit as “the earnest of our inheritance”. A Christian has only a little of the Holy Spirit now. It is like receiving $500 earnest money for the purchase of a house. We know more is coming. We see character growth in ourselves and in others. This proves that we have God's Holy Spirit. This is a proof of God's existence.
When we are discouraged and wondering where God is, think of creation. Think of miracles including our own character development - the biggest miracle of all!