Some people tell me that God is within. Our own embedded theology may elicit a God who is everywhere. A God who is outside of us and is in charge of all -- Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. Then there is the thought that maybe there is no God or even a God with a little “g” (god). Or maybe there are multiple gods.
But when soldiers go to battle, or sectarian violence means women are raped in front of their husbands and children, or when a village is slaughtered with machetes, I say to myself, where is God/god in all of this? Where is my OMNIPOTENT God? Where is my OMNISCIENT God who knows that this is happening and does not stop it? Where is my OMNIPRESENT God?
Then I remember. This God is in the eyes of the soldier who puts down his weapons to cradle a child who just blew off both of his legs on a landmine. It is in the eyes of the rapist who suddenly realizes that what he is doing is wrong and shameful, and then he stops. It is in the eyes of the child soldier who stops the slaughtering, dropping his machete, and running away so fast so he can be free from his own prison and hell.
It is in the eyes of those who grieve and cry and pick up the pieces in the aftermath. Those kind, compassionate eyes that continue to speak out against these atrocities, and then work towards helping people transform. It is this God – the one that is within – that we can find most easily. Perhaps this is the God we should search for and speak about. Perhaps this God is the one we understand the most. Perhaps.
