Jeremiah 23:23-24 (NIV)
23. “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away? 24. Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the LORD. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the LORD.

It’s Saturday after Christ has been slaughtered, hung up, murdered by the Romans – crucified. He’s down now. It’s over. How far away must God have seemed to some? How close must he have seemed to others? Depends on what you were wishing for I suppose. I’m sure there were many that, in spite of the curtain being torn, the sun being darkened, the earth’s foundations being shaken, were celebrating that God had come. Their god. Not God, but their god whom they called God.

For those who knew who He was, the questions raged. What happened? I wonder if anyone went back to the room where they had the last supper to ponder what might have been, not understanding what they had heard about what was to come. We go back to places to make sure it happened sometimes. At least I do. Go back. Sit. Think. Reality check.

Back to the Saturday after. Who can hide in secret places? Who? Where is our God who was so near and is now gone? It’s a sad day in the present, not knowing what happened to this Son of Man – God. All the plans! Foiled. What happened? Did anyone go back? Did anyone go sit in the room and ponder the meal they had just finished, the promises made, and what happened next?

Acts 17:26-28 (ESV)
26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.”

It feels like we’re in the Saturday after today. God seems so far away in the broken world. It’s not a wold full of selfless love, but a world full of self centered love. Not what Christ died for. The question though is “Am I only a God nearby?” The answer is that he is a God that is nearby and far away. This is a promise from God to us. God made us that “we should seek him, perhaps feel our way toward him and find him”. The promise is that he’s not far from us. Ever. Do we ever go back?

Where’s Christ? Where’s Jesus?

Is it the Saturday after in your life today? Is it uncertain, unsettled, not quite working out like it you thought it might? Might you be wondering where He is? The reality is that He’s not far from us, and He is eternity – that’s His promise.

Life happens. God has made us and set our periods and boundaries. It’s the Saturday after. Have you gone back? Have you gone back to the room? Have you gone back to the promises?