Day 14: When God goes MIA

The Day 14 chapter is about the times in your life when everything is going wrong and you think God is ignoring you or even begin to question whether He exists.

These times are another way God tests you. When you are a child (and perhaps when you have just recently returned to the Lord?), God answers your prayers so you know he exists. But as you get older, God tests your faith so it matures.

Rick Warren spends a bit of time explaining that feeling the presence of God is not the same as the omnipresence of God. God is always with us even when we can't feel his presence. I have to say I have never felt the presence of God until I started typing this paragraph. Now I feel like there is someone in the room with me, even though I am by myself, which is very spooky.

During the times when God feels absense, Rick Warren recommends the following (with frequent references to the book of Job):

• Tell God exactly how you feel - God can handle it even if you are angry with him. While it may not be obvious, this is an act of faith becuase it shows you believe in God, you believe God is listening to you and you believe God will still love you even when you express negative emotions
• Focus on who God is - God is good, God loves you, God has a plan for your life
• Trust God to keep his promises - I'm not sure what his promises are and the book doesn't say, must start reading the bible once I finish this 40 days
  
• Remember what God has already done for you - sent his son to die on the cross to save us from hell (now I know that my knowledge of God is limited, but I don't understand why, given God sets the rules, that he set them up this way.)