There, There

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1, NIV 1984).

My Musings – “There’s no ‘there,’ there.” Before President Biden said it, the quote was already there. “Whenever you get there, there is no there there.” (Gertrude Stein). Remarking about her experience returning to her hometown after a nearly 45-year absence and finding it completely changed with no remaining markers of her childhood. The phrase has become an idiom meaning that the person, thing, or place in question has no distinctive or noteworthy importance, substance, or significance. 

The “fool” referred to in the above verse is typically taken to mean one who denies the very existence of God. Believing that there is no God there. But as Christians, we sometimes go through difficult periods where it seems to us as if God was not there. This too is foolish, for “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'” (Hebrews 13:5, NIV 1985).

Sometimes, for whatever reason, we run away from God. But “where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7–10, NIV 1984). How foolish of us.

My Musings – God is always there. Even for the fool that says He is not there; He is doing all that He can to draw them to Himself. “He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26–27, NIV 1984).

God is there in our difficult moments, when we think He has abandoned us. In the times that we flee from Him. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, NIV 1984).

Whichever “there” happens to be for you right now, He is there for you. Go there. It will be noteworthy.