Seekers in the Hands of an Elusive God: Embracing Hope in Seasons of Darkness

Some Christians experience the presence of God as readily as they feel a pleasant breeze or sunshine. For others, God's presence is often much more difficult to find. Like the psalmists, we struggle with asking, "Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?" (Ps 10:1). At least part of the dynamic in this struggle lies in the fact that Scripture presents God as both everywhere and mysterious at the same time. As Paul told the sages of the Areopagus, "In him, we live and move and have our being," yet it is God's will that we "search for God, grope for him, and find him" (Acts 17:27-28). God is as present with his people as the tabernacle was with ancient Israel, and yet even the tabernacle was meant to illustrate the fact that God cannot be pinned down, contained, or controlled. We live in the tension of worshiping a God who is everywhere and yet must be sought.

Seekers in the Hands of an Elusive God explains the scriptural dynamic of this omnipresent but elusive God. It is when we fail to search for God that our view of who God truly is becomes distorted and our own spiritual health diminishes when our relationship with God lacks this pursuit. But how, then, are we called to seek God? This book considers a variety of avenues: in Scripture, nature, humanity, worship, silence, doubt, suffering, death, and joy. In all these ways, even those of us who wrestle with spiritual loneliness can join with saints of the past in pursuing the face of God.