Psalm 115:2-3 "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? (3) But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased."
Recently, we answered the question of the heathen. Today, we wonder why they
would ask that question? Could it be they ask it of us because they have asked
it of their own gods? Very quickly, I think of three times when OUR GOD was
pitted against their gods. Remember when the Philistines were allowed by God to
take the ark of the covenant? Israel had taken God for granted. They captured
the ark and took it back to the temple of their god, Dagon. They set it
beside their idol and then came back the next day. When they arrived, Dagon (a
man-made ugly idol) was on its face before the ark. They had to set it back on
its pedestal. When they came back the next day, Dagon was on its face before
the ark except that time its head and hands were cut off. So, I ask this
question: Where was their god? He was bowing before the true and living
God.
Another time, OUR GOD was pitted against the god of the world, Baal. Elijah
placed this challenge before King Ahab and the prophets of Baal: whichever
God/god sent fire from heaven to consume the offering would be the true God. If
you do not remember the details of the account, you can go to 1 Kings chapter
18 and read all about it. The short of the story is that the prophets of
Baal cried out to their god all day and nothing happened. Elijah prayed to the
only true and living God. "Then the fire of the LORD fell, and
consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and
licked up the water that was in the trench." (1 Kings 18:38) Where was
their god? He didn't hear. He didn't seem concerned. He didn't answer. He
didn't exist.
The third account took place when Judah was in captivity in Babylon. King
Nebuchadnezzar built a great idol that stood 90 feet tall. He commanded that at
the sound of the music, everyone was to bow down to his idol. There were three
Hebrew men who refused to bow to the king's idol. Again, short of the story:
the king demanded the three men to be thrown into a furnace that had been
heated seven times hotter than usual. The guards who took the men to the
furnace were killed by the heat. The three men fell into the fire. When the
king walked over to look into the furnace, he asked if there were not three men
who had been cast into the furnace. "He answered and said, Lo, I see
four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and
the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." (Daniel 3:25)
Where was his idol? It was nowhere to be found and never mentioned
again.
Where was OUR GOD in all these situations? He was alive, well, and doing
just fine! He was active in showing His power and glory in all these
times. He still is today. The gods of this world bow to the glory of OUR
GOD. The gods of this world cannot compare to the glory of OUR GOD. The
gods of this world never show up in time of need; but OUR GOD walks with us
through the fire. "He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased." Where
will we place our trust? To repeat the words of Joshua, "As for me
and my house, we will serve the LORD."