By It is sometimes hard to know what to say when someone rather bluntly and outrightly mocks your faith or questions the existence and work of God. We might even feel somewhat dumb for not having the right words in the moment, and perhaps even guilty for not being able to clearly defend what is so profoundly true, namely that God exist and is very actively involved in everyday life.
Psalm 115 helps us a little in this regard. It starts with a verse removing the attention off of ourselves and our inadequacies, and places the attention back on God with a prayer for Him to vindicate Himself.
Then, in verse 2, the dreaded experience is acknowledged of those who occasionally outright deny our God.
But in verse 3 a wonderful answer is given. If you would ever be mocked with the words “Where is your God?”, tell them where He is! “Our God is in the Heavens! He is in a place much higher than you. He is in a place that you barely even know about.”
But then it continues by pointing to God’s purposes. “Our God is in the Heavens; He does all that He pleases.” Tell the mockers this! Point to the sky, and tell them that God is in the Heavens and does whatever He wants to. He is keeping them alive for now, because He wants it that way. He shows His goodness and justice when He wants to in the ways that He wants to.
And if this is not enough, verse 4 contrasts that with the worship of the mocker. “Our God is in the heavens, whatever you worship is stuck on earth, or merely a thought in your mind”. “Our God does whatever He wants, your god is limited by what you can make or think.”
In other words, when you are openly mocked for your faith, tell them that whatever they might say or think, God is still in the Heaven and still gets to do whatever He wants to do, and that is much better than any of them can be or do.
Let us not seek to defend our belief in God as much as we defend our God in whom we believe. It is not about us, to repeat as verse 1 does, it is not about us, but about the world knowing that God is, and that He is glorious, full of love, and absolutely free to do whatever He pleases.