Heard a song yesterday which had a line that went, "Where are you, Father where are you? You have promised you would always be near." I find myself crying this out sometimes, and the absurdity of the statement is great. When one would consider the second clause, the first seems unspiritual and illogical. Usually when a man cries out the first portion, at first he emotionally feels God has left him, and in the same heart he states the latter. Who is God? What are His promises to us? They are life. They cannot fail. Therefore, I'm not so sure someone who cries these two clauses really understands at the moment what he is saying. The question "Where are you?" in the sense that God has left us is usually born in a heart that seeks God for peace's sake, not for His own. Selfishness. Also, because of God's promise to "always be near," He will not leave us because God is not a liar. Asking "where are you?" in relation to His promise questions His infalability. On the other hand, one can ask "where are you" because he knows he is lost; he has stepped out of the lighted path and cannot see his Leader. Therefore, while recognizing His promise rightly, one can ask "where are you" in a God-honoring fashion, seeing that it is not God Who has left, but rather himself, but one must, by the grace of God, have clear, unselfish understanding; by the grace of God, because selfishness and pride are what cause us to step out of that Light in the first place. He will always provide the grace to return. Receive it. I'm not so sure one can be right in putting the two clauses together, for it seems that each would have to come with a different mindset, seperately, in order to be right, but I could be wrong. Lord, give me understanding.