Where Was God in 2012?

At some point in life, most of us ask the question, “Where was God?” But the timing of that question reveals much about our self opinion.

We ask, “Where was God?” when something unexpected happens, whether that thing is big or small. We ask it when our plans are suddenly disrupted or pain is injected into our lives. We look up at the heavens and wonder, “Where was God?”

Think behind the question though. Why don’t we ask the question when all the common, every day, good gifts of life happen to us? It’s because we still, despite our nature and our actions (or maybe because of them), don’t get it. We don’t see what we really deserve. And we think that we are basically good people.

That’s why this post from John Piper was so striking to me as he wonders, “Where was God?”:

Where was God in 2012?

Where was God when nine million planes landed safely in the United States?
Where was God when the world revolved around the sun so accurately that it achieved the Winter solstice perfectly at 5:12 AM December 21 and headed back toward Spring?
Where was God when the President was not shot at a thousand public appearances?
Where was God when American farms produced ten million bushels of corn, and 2.8 million bushels of soybeans — enough food to sell $100 billions worth to other nations?
Where was God when no terrorist plot brought down a single American building or plane or industry?
Where was God when the sun maintained its heat and its gravitational pull precisely enough that we were not incinerated or frozen?
Where was God when three hundred million Americans drank water in homes and restaurants without getting sick?
Where was God when no new plague swept away a third of our race?
Where was God when Americans drove three trillion accident free miles?
Where was God when over three million healthy babies were born in America?