Where is my phone?  Have you ever asked yourself that question?  Oh, I’ve asked myself that many times over the years.  I have actually been on the phone talking while feverishly going room to room looking for my phone.  Did I just admit that?

One day, I was about to leave my house, so I went about gathering needed items before departing.  You know what they say:  the adult version of head and shoulders knees and toes is wallet, glasses, keys, and phone.  I found my wallet, glasses, keys, but not my phone. I moved from room to room looking for my phone, but I had no success. 

Fortunately, I wear an Apple watch.  With an Apple watch, I can press a “find your phone” icon and my phone will start beeping, and I can find it.  I pressed the icon and heard the beep which only lasted a few seconds.  I could not find the phone before the beeping stopped, but I could tell it was close by.  I pressed the icon again while walking around my house, but again I could not locate the phone before the beeping stopped.  Determined to locate my phone, I took a few more steps around my house. Once again, I could not find the phone though it was nearby. 

I stopped and asked myself, how could my phone be near every place I was, and yet I cannot see it? I tried for a fourth time, and it dawned on me that the phone was in my pocket.  Everywhere I went, the phone was present even though I did not see it.

As believers, we live by faith and not by sight.  God is present even when we do not see Him.  The words of Jesus assure us that He is always working. “But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” – John 5:17 (NLT).  Now, that’s a promise that we should hang on the refrigerator, the bathroom mirror, by the kitchen sink, and on the dashboard of the car!

Just because we cannot see what God is doing or cannot feel His presence, does not mean that God is not present and working. It does not mean that God has not heard those cries as we prayed to Him. God is working all things together for good even when we don’t see it, even when we don’t feel it, even when it is not evident.

When long seasons of difficulty and heartache come, Satan will begin to whisper in our ears, “Where is God?  Where is God?”   The devil wants our focus to be on the problem we can see and not on the God we cannot see.   

The Psalmist David expressed his feelings about this subject in Psalm thirteen.  David said, “How long are you going to forget me, Lord?  How long am I going to cry out to you with no answer?” 

I’ve felt that, have you?  But David doesn’t leave it there.  He ends the Psalm with these words, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.”

The truth is that I want to see and understand everything that God is doing right now. I want to know the whole plan.  But that isn’t how God works. Our circumstances don’t determine if God is working, nor do our feelings. God is always working. What will I do in the season of “how long?”  I am going to keep trusting, keep speaking truth, keep declaring His promises over my life, and like David, I will sing unto the Lord for He has been good to me!